Shadows of the Apocalypse
by pjmb13
Summary: During a losing battle with alien forces, an REF cruiser is forced into a desperate maneuver which takes them to an unexpected location. The survivors encounter a different world from what they are familiar with or known. What will they do especially when they encounter a pair of Vampire Slayers and how will the world react to their arrival.
1. Watch your six!

**SHADOWS OF THE APOCALYPSE**

This is my 7th fanfiction story. This is a ROBOTECH and Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover story. This story will feature original characters and some of the ship names and squadron designations will not be canon as there is not a lot info on REF unit structure beyond canon (e.g. Skull Squadron, 21st Mars Division) and I won't get into the debate about Harmony Gold changing the continuity and disregarding a lot of the material written over the years especially the REF RPG guides. I will try and keep ROBOTECH as close to canon using my OCs, but my main goal is to provide an entertaining story to the reader.

I just want to say thanks to the creators and writers of both the ROBOTECH and Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchises. They have provided me with hours of enjoyment and entertainment. A special thanks to all those that created many of the ROBOTECH technical reference sites, they were excellent sources of information on the types of mecha and ships. All characters are the intellectual property of their respective creators and publishers; this story may not be sold or distributed on a profit-making basis.

Thanks to all that read this story.

_During a losing battle with alien forces, an REF cruiser is forced into a desperate maneuver which takes them to an unexpected location. The survivors encounter a different world from what they are familiar with or known. What will they do especially when they encounter a pair of Vampire Slayers and how will the world react to their arrival._

**oOoOo**

**CHAPTER ONE:**

**Watch your six!**

**Vega Corinthi System  
November 23, 2042 (Earth Calendar)**

"Viper-Twelve…watch your six and stay in formation! Viper-Twelve… EVANS WAKE UP AND STAY IN FORMATION!"

"Yes Sir!" replied Viper-Twelve trying to hide the nervousness in her voice.

Third Lieutenant Cassidy "Cassie" Evans quickly refocused her attention and made sure that her Alpha was in formation with the rest of her squadron. She tried to control her nervousness as this was her first combat mission. She could see the swarming mass of enemy targets on her scanner as they were grouping up and making their approach run at her squadron and the rest of the task force.

She took a deep breath and cleared her mind as she'd been taught in flight and combat school. She recalled what her flight instructors had hammered into her and the other trainees, "_If you get distracted in combat for one moment…you'll be dead in the next!_"

She heard her flight leader again over the tac channel, "Alright Vipers stay with your wingman. Keep the Invid away from the fleet. Remember we're supporting the Grim Reapers…so stay frosty. Go weapons hot when we get into range."

Cassie took another deep breath and focused on the mass of enemy targets. Many thoughts ran through her head as the range closed between the two forces, but there was one main thought that she had to fight to keep down.

_Please God… Don't let me screw up!_

It didn't take long for her heads-up-display (HUD) to start locking on to the incoming wave of Invid fighters. She took one more deep breath and she pressed the weapons trigger on her control stick. She felt her Alpha shudder as a wave of attack missiles roared off her ship streaking towards their targets.

It didn't take long for space to be filled with explosions as Cassie's missiles along with the other missiles launched by the rest of the Alpha Veritechs found their targets.

**oOoOo**

"REAPER-ONE… BANDIT ON YOUR HIGH SIX!" a voice yelled over the tactical channel.

The pilot with the callsign Reaper-One was already aware of the threat, "Roger…" he acknowledged calmly almost sounding as if he'd just woken up.

He didn't think about what he was going to do. He had years of combat experience and he flew like he breathed — it was all automatic and by reflex. The pilot cut his speed and pulled back on the stick. He felt the slight change in deceleration as he pulled back on his control stick with his right hand. At the same time his left hand pulled back on the controller marked "B". The pilot could feel his plane start to shift and begin its transformation. He could visualize in his mind how his ship was going to shift as it went into Battloid mode. He felt and saw the change in his fighter as it transformed. Not that there would be any impact on his aerodynamics as he was in space and the Battloid moved just as easily as any other mode.

He felt his ship go through its transformation and in moments his cockpit had shifted down into the Battloid's chest area. The pilot quickly re-oriented his thinking and shifted his controls to change directions. He touched his controls lightly and expertly and his Battloid shifted direction almost immediately to face the incoming threat. His HUD targeting system flashed a resolution as it locked on.

_Die Invid bastard!_ The pilot thought as he pressed the firing trigger on his control stick. A pair of missiles immediately launched from the Beta module locking on to their target.

The Invid fighter immediately recognized the threat as it belatedly realized that instead of being the hunter it had become the hunted. The Invid craft tried to avoid the incoming pair of missiles, but the range was short — the enemy fighter went up in a huge explosion as the missiles detonated tearing apart the craft.

The pilot ignored his latest kill as he swung his Battloid around to face another incoming threat, this time he opened up with his disrupter cannon firing a short burst at another Invid fighter. The burst from the beam weapon tore through the fighter's central torso.

Reaper-One took a moment from his close encounters to get a hold and refocus on the complete tactical situation as he was commander for a whole squadron — VF-93 the "Grim Reapers".

"Reaper-Leader to all Reapers…check in!"

"Reaper-Two here. Got your six covered boss." this brought a small smile to Reaper-One's face knowing that his wingman was still with him.

The smile went away as the others in his squadron checked in and he found that he was down four aircraft and pilots. The pilot muttered a few choice swear words as he locked on to another Invid attack craft and launched another short-range attack missile.

Space blossomed with another explosion and Reaper-One took a moment to look back towards the rest of the task force. He muttered some more swear words as he saw how hard the task force was being hit. He quickly shifted his ship back into Fighter mode and pushed his throttle controls hard forward. He felt the power increase in his Shadow Fighter and turned it back towards the task force.

"Reapers… Form up and close up with the fleet. We've got leakers and we got to take them out!" Reaper-One called over the tac channel. He heard the acknowledgements from the rest of his squadron as they quickly closed the distance.

**oOoOo**

On board the REF Ikazuchi-class Cruiser _Arcadia_, Commodore April Lau was muttering a few choice swear words in both English and Mandarin as she evaluated the current situation. Her ship shuddered as it took another hit from a small group of Invid fighters that had broken through her task force's fighter screen and were trying to avoid her cruiser's point defense weapons.

"Damage Report?" she asked urgently.

The Damage Control officer quickly reported, "Launch bays 2 and 5 are inoperative… We have hull breaches on decks 2, 5 and 6…sections sealed off. Heavy damage to turret number 2. Minor damage to engine number 2. Damage control parties have been dispatched. Injuries reported on all decks."

The Commodore nodded her acknowledgement and she turned to her communications officer, "Task force status?"

"Light cruisers…Hastings, Dover and Devon are gone. The rest of the task force are reporting differing degrees of damage. All Veritech squadrons are reporting heavy causalities."

"Enemy fleet status?"

"First wave of Invid fighters is being mopped up, but we have another wave of fighters being launched from a second group of Mollusk Carriers. Sensors are picking up a third wave of Carriers moving up to close."

"Are we in range to engage those carriers yet?"

"Not yet Ma'am! Two minutes and we will be in range and have a target lock."

Commodore Lau grimaced as she heard the report and looked at her bridge scanner displays, _Too long… That next wave of fighters will be on us before we get in range of their carriers… I wish we had some of those new Synchro Cannons mounted…they pack a punch and can reach out and touch further._

Lau knew that her task force had suffered heavy damage, but they were too deeply engaged to withdraw now without suffering further crippling losses.

She shook her head as this battle hadn't even been planned for. Her task force's mission had been to scout for any bases that the Invid Regess may have established in the systems between Tirol and Earth. The Robotech Expeditionary Force was assembling a huge fleet to retake Earth from the Regess and her forces, but they couldn't leave any bases in other sectors that could be used to strike back at the REF's support bases on Tirol. Lau's task force had been moving from system to system along the path to Earth with no contact and it was only by accident that they had jumped into this system and stumbled upon this Invid force that was apparently in the midst of making its way to Earth.

Lau's thoughts were interrupted, "Ma'am… The Reapers are falling back to cover us and engage the incoming wave of Invid."

A small smile came to the Commodore's face as she knew that she could always rely upon the Grim Reapers to watch her six. The Reapers weren't as famous as Skull squadron or the Wolf Pack or infamous as Ghost squadron, but the Reapers were some of the best pilots in the REF and the Arcadia was their base ship. If there was anyone that could turn the situation around it was Captain Paul Coleiro. He was a hardened veteran of the REF, with years of experience fighting the Invid. That he'd flown with the Skull and Max Sterling added to his reputation and he had no shortage of pilots wanting to fly with him.

Lau gave a little prayer of thanks as the Reapers were the only squadron in her task force to have been re-equipped with the new VFA-6S Shadow Fighters. This new stealth version of the venerable Alpha fighter held out a lot of promise for its ability to defeat Invid sensors and the new disruptor cannon giving the fighters heavier firepower to defeat the mass attacks used by the Invid. They had also gotten a small supply of the first production run of Shadow drone fighters which were the unmanned version of the VFA-6S. She could see the results of the new fighters as the Reapers and drones tore into the Invid.

_I wish we had more of those Shadow fighters and drones…they're worth their weight in gold!_ Lau thought as she watched her diminished fighter screen reform and move to cover the surviving ships of her task force from the next incoming wave of Invid fighters.

It wasn't long before she heard her weapons officer call out targets for her ship's point defense weapons to engage and this was quickly followed by damage reports as her ship shuddered from plasma hits.

**oOoOo**

Cassie watched with grim satisfaction as she picked up her thirteenth kill. Her mind didn't dwell on the superstition of getting thirteen kills as she was more surprised and happy that she was still alive. Her first combat mission wasn't like anything she'd imagined and tried to prepare for. It had gone so fast, that she found that she didn't have time to think — she reacted as her training kicked in and it all became automatic as she fired with her gun pod and missiles.

She had watched with anger as her element leader got caught in a crossfire of plasma bursts and blew up. She immediately tagged onto Viper-Five, who had lost her wingman. They went to work taking out a group of Invid fighters that had ganged up on a heavily damaged Garfish-class Light Cruiser that was floating dead in space.

She heard the call from Viper-One to form up as it slowly became apparent that they had destroyed the Invid fighters. For a moment Cassie had thought it was all over, but then she heard the call out that another wave of Invid fighters was inbound. For a moment, Cassie wished that she was in one of those new Shadow Fighters. She'd heard all about them and was looking forward to flying one. She'd seen one of them in combat — which she recognized as Reaper-One by its distinctive markings — and seen him take out five Invid fighters in a matter of seconds with a mix of gunfire and missiles at close range. She'd found herself momentarily distracted as she looked on in awe as she saw Reaper-One follow up on his five kills by launching a wave of missiles from the attached Beta module taking out at another half dozen incoming Invid fighters.

When Cassie wanted to become a Veritech pilot, her dream was to fly with Skull squadron, but when she went to flight school, she'd learned about the Grim Reapers and their commanding officer and she knew that if she couldn't fly with the Skull then her second choice was to be good enough to fly with the Reapers.

Cassie caught her breath as she formed up with her much diminished squadron and her eyes were on her scanners at the incoming wave of Invid that was the same size as the first wave. Cassie was trying to not think about how the task force had barely fought off the first wave. She pushed thoughts about her mortality down as she did an ammo and weapons check of her plane. A grim look came to her face as she saw that she was almost out of missiles and that she would be primarily reliant upon her gun pod to combat the Invid, which meant that she would have to stay in knife fighting range with the enemy.

**oOoOo**

On board the Arcadia, Commodore Lau was looking at the display screen that was showing the status of her task force and the disposition of her fighters. She had a grim look on her face as she looked over the icons on the display that each represented a ship and their crew in her task force. Her small task force had been hit hard by that first wave of Invid fighters, she knew that they could probably survive the second wave of fighters, but she also knew that there would a lot fewer icons on the display when it was over to face the third wave of Invid.

She was reviewing the disposition of her ships, making sure that they were properly positioned so that their point-defense weapons would be able to provide overlapping coverage, when a cry went out from one of the sensor stations.

"Ma'am! We've detected a space-fold occurring at co-ordinates bearing 248 by 79. Range to contact 150,000 kilometers!"


	2. Contact

**CHAPTER TWO:**

**Contact**

"Report!" Lau ordered as she looked at the display screen with a mixture of confusion and surprise at this turn of events.

"Ma'am…sensors have picked up seven large capital-size ships that have defolded. They are moving on an intercept course."

"Are they Invid?" Lau asked worriedly knowing that her small task force had already taken a severe beating and couldn't face these increased odds.

"Unknown Ma'am! Ship configurations do not match anything in our databases!"

Lau became even more worried at the prospect of dealing with an unknown alien force, especially during a battle.

"Comms…open a hailing channel to those ships. Ask them to identify themselves and what their intentions are."

Lau paused as she tried to cover all the potential contingencies, "Inform the Air Group Commander to reposition his fighters… I want at least a squadron of Alphas between us and them in case they turn out to be less than friendly."

Lau listened as her orders were carried out, but her thoughts were now split between dealing with the oncoming waves of Invid fighters and this new unknown alien force. She hoped that things wouldn't get worse.

**oOoOo**

On board the approaching alien ships, cool analytical minds studied their holographic sensor displays. They looked at the two forces that were battling each other and felt nothing but hatred and contempt for both races. The leader of this fleet, wearing a long cloak with one bright red eye showing from under its hood, turned away from the sensor display to look at its assistant.

"The Awareness has guided us to these jump coordinates in order to find these forces. We have been instructed to test some of our new weapons against the Humans and the Invid and determine their effectiveness before implementing our final plans to wipe out those that embrace Protoculture."

"The Humans do not have any of the Synchro Cannons aboard their ships and only a small number of their fighters are employing the Shadow devices. We cannot properly test the modifications we have made to those systems that we have given them." replied the assistant.

"The Awareness has noted that! We are here to test the effects of destabilizing and overloading the Reflex engines on the Human ships. Killing the Invid is just an added benefit. How long until we are in range to fire?"

"We will be in optimal weapons range within five minutes."

**oOoOo**

Cassie looked at her HUD and her scanner at the group of very large alien ships and could see that they were rapidly closing the range. She'd been surprised, just like everyone else, at the appearance of these new aliens. Her squadron had been ordered to shift over and act as a screen between the task force and these new aliens.

She could hear the voice on the open com channel hailing the alien ships — with no response. With the range between her squadron and the alien ships closing, she started to get a really bad feeling and that things were going to turn ugly.

_It's bad enough we're trying to survive the Invid…now we got more aliens to deal with!_

Cassie watched her display as the range continued to decrease between her squadron and these new aliens. She could hear over the com channels that the other squadrons and the task force were engaging the second wave of Invid fighters. She had mixed feelings as a part of her wanted to be back there helping, but it was nice that no one was shooting at her at the moment.

That all suddenly changed as a cry went up over the squadron channel, "BOGIES! We've got fighters launched from the alien ships!"

Cassie let out a sigh as it looked like this first encounter was about to get hostile. If there was any consolation in this situation, it was that it looked like these aliens didn't like the Invid as well. They had split their fighters into two groups to send against each race.

_So much for a friendly close encounter…_

Cassie couldn't dwell on it any longer as her threat-warning systems started going off and soon space was filled with energy bolts from these new hostile enemy fighters. She immediately pulled back on her control stick and put her Alpha into hard banking maneuvers while at the same time she locked on with her targeting systems and fired off the last of her missiles at these new enemies.

Space blossomed with explosions where her and her squadron's missiles had found their target. Cassie couldn't waste any time feeling satisfied with herself as she quickly shifted her fighter into Battloid mode and spun her pulse cannon to fire at more of these strange alien fighter craft.

**oOoOo**

Lau shook her head in disbelief as she looked at her display screen. She couldn't believe that her task force was now caught in a fight with two different alien forces. At this moment her main focus was holding off and defeating the attacking wave of Invid fighters as she considered that was the most immediate threat.

"Ma'am were within missile range of those Invid Carriers."

"Weps…get a targeting solution on those carriers and fire as soon as you have a lock. Comms…tell the _Vanguard_ to go weapons free on those Mollusks as soon as they have a target lock. Once they fire, they are to change course with their escorts to move up and support Viper squadron and engage that other alien force." Lau ordered as she studied the display screen giving her a real-time view of the battle and ship dispositions.

Lau heard the acknowledgements from her officers. It wasn't long before she felt her ship shudder as its main missile batteries launched a barrage of anti-ship missiles.

**oOoOo**

The _Vanguard_ was a sister ship of the _Arcadia_, her Captain heard the orders from Commodore Lau and given the orders to his weapons officer. He'd felt his ship shudder as their anti-ship missiles launched at the Invid Carriers. He quickly gave orders to his navigator to bring about his cruiser and move to intercept the unknown alien fleet that was still advancing.

He was as puzzled as everyone else over who these new aliens were. When they had first detected the new aliens, he'd had a fleeting hope that they would be friendly, but then he'd always been a pragmatic person and humanity's history of contact with aliens had been less than peaceful. He wasn't really surprised when the reports came in that the aliens had launched fighters and were engaging the fighter screen.

The Captain had a grim look as he looked at his display. Even though with his escorting light cruisers in support he would outnumber the alien force, the unknown alien ships were at least as large as his Ikazuchi-class Cruiser. On the positive side, the _Vanguard_ had only suffered minimal damage from the first Invid attack wave.

**oOoOo**

"The human ships have entered weapons range."

"Excellent…have our ships target the closest human ships and destroy them. Then move on to next group.

"Understood."

The seven Haydonite capital ships powered up their main weapons as they prepared to fire.

**oOoOo**

"Sir! We're picking up an energy spike from the alien ships. They're preparing to fire!"

The Captain was about to order evasive maneuvers when his world exploded and his ship felt like it had just been picked up and dropped. He heard screams, cries and alarms fill his ears.

"DAMAGE REPORT!" he yelled to be heard over the voices and alarms filling the bridge.

"REPORTS COMING IN FROM ALL SECTIONS! HULL BREACHES ON ALL DECKS! " the damage control officer yelled back.

The Captain was trying to wrap his head around how much damage his ship had just suffered. He tried to refuse to admit it, but he knew his ship was lost. His thoughts were interrupted by the damage control officer yelling.

"SIR! ENGINEERING IS REPORTING THAT THE REFLEX FURANCE IS GOING CRITICAL!"

"TELL THEM TO OVERRIDE AND SHUTDOWN!"

"THEY CAN'T SIR!"

The reality of the moment hit the Captain hard. He fought the panic and the helplessness that was threatening to engulf him. His training kicked in and he tried to do what he could and save as many of his crew that he could. He hit the ship intercom system.

"ALL HANDS! ABANDON SHIP… I REPEAT ABANDON SHIP!"

The Captain went back to his command station and sat down. He looked around at his bridge crew. None of them had made a move to the escape pods, they were still at their stations trying to desperately pull out a miracle and save their ship and co-ordinate the evacuation of as many people off the ship as possible.

The Captain was about to say something to his bridge crew — he wanted to tell them that he was proud of them. He started to open his mouth, when he, his crew and his ship blew up in a huge explosion.

**oOoOo**

Lau was standing looking at her display screen and out the observation window. She was frozen in shock and disbelief as she saw the _Vanguard_ and her escorts cut to pieces by the alien fleet. If she hadn't been watching with her own eyes, she wouldn't have believed it. It took her what seemed like an eternity to shake herself out of her shock, she saw the rest of her bridge crew and command staff frozen in shock as well. She knew she had to snap herself and them back into it.

"Status of Invid attack?" she asked in a quiet firm voice.

"Our fighters are managing to keep most of the Invid fighters off of us as they seem to be distracted by the other aliens' fighters. Some of our escorts have gotten hit."

"Anything from sensors of what those aliens hit the _Vanguard_ with?"

"Ma'am, were still sorting through the data, but it looks like the energy weapons those ships carry fire at a frequency that seems to destabilize our reflex furnaces… We're not sure how…we need more time to analyze the sensor data."

Lau was about to open her mouth when another cry went up.

"Ma'am! The aliens are firing again!"

**oOoOo**

Cassie couldn't believe her eyes as she saw another light cruiser go up in a huge explosion as the aliens were cutting her fleet to shreds. She'd been stunned when she saw the _Vanguard_ blow up — it had been her base ship. She been distracted, but managed to refocus in time to avoid one of the alien fighters from taking her out. Compared to the large ships in the task force, the fighters were having an easier time. Her squadron was holding their own for now and she'd managed to get a couple more kills. Cassie winced as she saw Viper-Five get caught in a crossfire and blow up. She could feel the beginnings of panic as the whole situation was starting to unravel as the aliens kept firing at the human ships.

She tried to push those thoughts down as she concentrated on the alien fighter that came into view. A vicious look came to her face as pressed her weapons trigger to send a long burst of plasma fire into the alien fighter.

**oOoOo**

Lau was watching her command being destroyed around her as another report came in of another ship blown up by those unknown aliens. She thought she could keep things in control, but she had no answer or defense to this threat.

"Ma'am! That third wave of Invid Carriers are coming into range! They're getting ready to launch fighters!"

_That does it!_ she thought with a grim angry determination as she was going to try and save as much of her task force as she could.

"Is there anything that we can do to stop of minimize the effects of those damn alien weapons!?" she asked desperately.

One of her senior bridge officers spoke up, "Ma'am if we direct our pin-point barrier system and layer it where the enemy is going to hit us, it's possible that the barriers will absorb most of the energy, but that's a lot of ifs…"

Lau sighed as she looked at her list of few options and she made up her mind.

"Order the task force to fall back so we're free of any gravitational fields… All ships are to execute independent space folds and try to get back to Tirol and warn command about these aliens… Have the fighter squadrons fall back to cover those retiring ships…"

"What about us?" asked her first officer.

Lau didn't hesitate as she met her first officer's eyes and gave him a determined look, "Order all non-essential personnel to abandon ship…they are to evacuate to the other ships. We will stay and provide cover for the task force to retire."

The bridge was silent as the bridge crew absorbed what they were being asked to do and sacrifice.

**oOoOo**

Captain Coleiro couldn't believe the three-way Charlie Foxtrot he was caught up in — fighting the Invid and now these new aliens. He could only watch helplessly as his task force was being torn to shreds. He and the rest of the fighter screen were fighting desperately to hold back the Invid, but they could smell the blood in the water and were pressing their attacks even while also being attacked by the other aliens.

He'd exhausted all his missiles and was in Battloid mode using his disruptor. He'd heard the orders over the com channels for the fighters to keep holding off the Invid while the task force could withdraw. He was thinking of what to do when he heard his wingman over the squadron channel.

"Boss…what's the plan here?"

"Give me a minute…"

"Would like to boss, but everything is going FUBAR."

"I know…" Coleiro said as he opened a channel to the Arcadia.

"This is Reaper Leader… Let me speak to the Commodore."

Lau was watching disaster unfold around her. Her plans for her surviving ships to try and execute an orderly withdrawal was turning to ashes. The Invid were pressing their attacks and overwhelming the fighter screen in places. Her heavier ships were either being crippled or destroyed. Those ships retreating, that avoided the Invid, were getting fired upon by the aliens. She could see the first group of escape pods and evacuation shuttles leaving her ship. She'd ordered the ship's point defense weapons to cover the evacuation.

"Ma'am…Reaper Leader on the channel."

Lau turned to the com display screen at her station, "Go ahead Reaper Leader…"

She saw the worried look on Captain Coleiro's face, but the tone in his voice was calm, "Ma'am…what's the plan?"

Lau debated for moment what to say, but this wasn't the time to hold back or dance around, "We're evacuating as many people as we can…we're staying behind to cover the withdrawal while the rest of the task force folds."

"The Reapers will stay to provide cover."

Lau hadn't expected any less from Coleiro, "Negative Captain…we still have the drones and they will stay to provide cover. Your orders are to cover the evacuation... Get our people home." She said in a firm hard tone.

There was a long pause before the Captain responded, "Understood Ma'am."

Coleiro passed the orders to the rest of the squadron and they moved quickly to cover the escape pods and shuttles that were making their exodus from the Arcadia.

**oOoOo**

The battle had dissolved into a confused bloody melee as outnumbered Veritechs stood their ground trying to hold back the massive wave of Invid fighters. Another Ikazuchi-class Cruiser blew up taking a hit from the alien's powerful weapons. The few remaining ships were trying to put enough distance so that they could execute space folds. Space was littered with debris and wreckage from human cruisers and fighters and it mingled with the debris of Invid fighters. Escape pods from dead and dying human ships were desperately weaving trying to avoid the debris and the weapons fire. The Invid didn't show any mercy on the helpless pods as they opened fire on them. The surviving fighters of the Grim Reapers flew like their name cutting desperately into the Invid to buy time for anyone to escape.

**oOoOo**

Lau tasted nothing but ashes in her mouth as she watched her command being destroyed while she could only watch helplessly. Her gambit to cover her escaping ships had failed. The _Arcadia_ heaved heavily as it took another hit. Lau wasn't worried about the Invid anymore, the unknown aliens had picked up that her ships were trying to escape. She fought back the urge to scream as she watched in anguish as the alien capital ships were picking off her ships one by one. The com channels were filled with desperate, scared and angry voices calling for help — sometimes cut-off in mid-sentence.

She knew what she had to do. She hated the thought but someone had to escape to warn REF Command about this new threat.

"Prepare to execute space-fold!" she ordered catching her bridge crew by surprise.

"But Ma'am…the gravitational fields—"

"We have no choice! Execute fold!"

Lau stood there frozen as she heard the countdown to the space-fold. She tried to push away the sight and sounds of her dying command. Thoughts of failure hammered at her as she saw the space-fold field starting to form around her ship through the bridge observation windows. Her thoughts were mercifully interrupted.

"Ma'am! Aliens ships are locking on to us!"

_Damn it!_

"Get the pin-point barrier in place!" Lau ordered.

The technicians in the barrier control center worked frantically to get the barrier shields in place. On a day where nothing had gone right, the technicians managed to get the shields layered on the bow section of the cruiser just seconds before the alien energy weapon struck the _Arcadia_'s hull.

Everyone on the bridge was thrown around by the force of the hit.

"REPORT!" Lau shouted as alarms screamed throughout the bridge.

"THE BARRIER TOOK MOST OF THE ENERGY!" shouted back the First Officer.

Suddenly a com screen came alive and a frantic looking face appeared on the screen, "Ma'am the Reflex furnace is destabilizing!"

Lau was about to respond when another voice shouted out over the alarms.

"SPACE-FOLD FIELD IS FLUCTUATING! READINGS ARE OFF THE SCALE!"

"ABORT FOLD!" Lau shouted frantically afraid to hear the answer.

"WE CAN'T! CONTROLS AREN'T RESPONDING!"

Commodore Lau could only stand there helplessly. She could only wonder what would destroy her ship first…the Reflex furnace or the out of control space-fold field.

**oOoOo**

Captain Coleiro finished firing a long burst from his disruptor into an Invid fighter. He had ordered the remnants of his squadron to stay close with the other ships and try and escape with them. He had turned his fighter back to the _Arcadia_ to give her support. His wingman had argued with him, but Coleiro had ordered him to stay with the rest of the task force. As he made his approach towards the _Arcadia_, he saw the drones still fighting and taking a toll on the Invid. He saw the space-fold field starting to form around the cruiser and he said a little prayer that she would make the fold. He pushed his throttle control hard forward to increase his speed to try and get in her space-fold field before the ship folded.

He wasn't optimistic at getting close enough before the cruiser folded and in the back of his mind he was already trying to figure out an alternate plan to try and stay alive. He was stunned as he suddenly saw the _Arcadia_ hit direct on by the alien energy weapon. He was trying to ascertain how much damage the ship had suffered. The hull looked intact, but he was getting a feeling of dread as he saw the space-fold field start to change shape and expand exponentially. It looked like lightening was shooting off the field. Whatever was happening it wasn't good.

The Captain could see the field expanding outwards and was rushing towards his fighter. His feeling of dread turned into fear and he quickly turned his fighter around to try get away from the onrushing wave of energy.

**oOoOo**

On the bridge of the _Arcadia_, Commodore Lau was at a loss of what to do. Alarms were still going off and she could see and hear her bridge crew work frantically to try and save the ship. The Chief Engineer was reporting that the Reflex furnace was sending out energy pulses and it had overloaded the space-fold engines and that radiation levels were increasing.

"Report." she said in a calm voice.

Her First Officer was caught by surprise by the tone of her voice, "Ma'am the field is growing…we can't say how far it's going to expand… We don't know what's going to happen when the furnace goes critical or if we'll even be able to actually fold."

A sensor technician spoke up, "Ma'am, I've got a group of Invid Carriers advancing on us…"

_The Invid are the least of our worries now_, Lau thought as she shook her head.

Suddenly a cry came over the com channel from the engine room, "SHE'S GOING CRITICAL!"

Lau didn't have time to say anything other than look at her First Officer sadly as the whole space-fold field went an intense searing white hot. The Commodore could feel the intense heat and then there was nothing.

**oOoOo**

Cassie was fighting to stay alive. She'd witnessed the unfolding disaster and she had continued to fight and provide cover for the task force. She'd been attempting to catch up with the retreating ships. She had no idea what the status of her squadron was or if any of them were still alive. She had shut out the cries for help and the distress signals that flooded the com channels. She thought that she had a chance to make it, but then she got caught by two of those alien fighters. She'd been forced to go to full thrusters and take evasive maneuvers. She'd finally been able to get behind one of the bastards and take him out. She'd almost died then when the second fighter had caught her in her blind side. She felt the hits as the cockpit alarms went off. She knew that she'd taken serious damage to her engines, but she managed to pull back on her controls and spin her fighter and held down her weapons trigger sending a continuous burst of plasma fire into the alien.

She was checking the damage on her Alpha when she heard horrific screams over the com channels. She was trying to figure out what was happening when she caught sight of a huge wall of white rushing towards her fighter. Before she could do anything, she was engulfed in the whiteness and then there was nothing.


	3. He looks kind of sexy for a pirate…

**CHAPTER THREE:  
He looks kind of sexy for a pirate…**

Xander tried to keep his concentration on the road. It was hard as his night vision and depth perception were off as he only had the one eye now to see with. It didn't help that where his other eye used to be, it still ached and had a dull throb. He would get occasional flashes of light when he closed his good eye.

Risking a glance over at Dawn, who was still unconscious in the passenger seat of the car, a wave of guilt washed over him again as he felt bad that he had drugged her. He knew that Buffy had asked him to do this favor for her, to make sure that Dawn was safely away from Sunnydale, but it still didn't make it any easier on his guilty conscious. He was a little worried about how Dawn would react when she came to as Summers women tended to get a little violent. He hoped that the letter that Buffy had given him to give to Dawn would ease any repercussions.

Xander also knew that his guilt wasn't limited to his passenger. He was feeling guilty about how he was running off leaving Buffy and the rest of his friends, just before the final battle against the First Evil, Caleb, Turok-Hans and the Bringers.

_That's one long list of enemies_, Xander thought tiredly as he tried to keep his focus on the road. He kept telling himself that he wasn't running away. He was doing this because Buffy asked him and trusted him to protect Dawn, but that still didn't change the feeling brewing in him that he was running out on all his friends at this critical moment.

As his mind wandered, trying to keep his eye on the road, he lost track of time. He was brought back into focus as he heard Dawn stir in the passenger seat.

Dawn slowly became aware of her surroundings. She still felt drowsy and had a funny taste in her mouth. She was trying to remember what had happened to her as she regained consciousness. She remembered that she was outside helping Xander look for something in his car, then something went over her nose and mouth and it went all black.

Her eyes felt heavy as she opened them. It took her another moment to realize that she was in a moving car and that it was Xander driving. There'd been a moment as she regained consciousness that she didn't recognize him at first because of his eye patch. It then all came back — how he'd lost it. She remembered how she'd felt at seeing him injured. She focused more on her surroundings as she heard his voice.

"Hey, Dawn… Dawn, you awake?"

"What happened?" she said groggily slowly regaining her senses.

"Um, I thought you might say that."

She was still recovering from the drug's effects, "Actually I meant to say what the hell happened?"

"It was chloroform."

"Color forms...what?" Dawn said still groggy.

"Chloroform. Are you still loopy?" he asked.

"Sorry about that. Someone knocked me out with chloroform... Xander, where are we going? What's going on? Talk to me," Dawn asked with confusion and alarm, regaining more of her senses and awareness as she tried to figure out what had happened to her.

Xander didn't hesitate as he handed the letter to Dawn, keeping his eye on the road, "Away."

"What's this?"

"Just open it."

Dawn opened the letter and started reading. As she quickly deduced what was happening and who was behind this idea, she felt her anger start to grow. She glimpsed a stun gun, on the floor of the car, and her right hand started slowly reaching down for it. She could feel the grip of the stun gun at her fingers tips. She was about to give Xander a taste of his own medicine.

"Jesus…what the hell is that!" he exclaimed suddenly looking up from the road.

Dawn found herself distracted, quickly turning her eyes to where Xander was looking in the sky. She looked in awe seeing a fireball streaking across the sky. It was large and the flames left a trail across the night sky.

Xander quickly slowed down the car, pulling over to the side of the road so he could keep watching the fireball. He realized that whatever it was, it was moving fast and it seemed to be heading in their general direction. Craning his neck, to watch the fireball get closer, he finally decided to get out of the car to get a better view. He barely noted Dawn's presence as she got out to join him as they both stood there watching the night sky light up.

Their awe quickly turned to surprise and shock as they saw what looked like a good-sized piece of the fireball break away from the main fireball. This smaller piece seemed to hang in mid-air for what felt like minutes. Xander tried to focus, but found it hard with only the one eye at that distance. He could have sworn that he then saw something small and dark break/fall away from the smaller piece. He was trying to figure out what the hell he was looking at when his eye widen as he saw a white blossoming parachute in the night sky.

"Xander…is that a-a—" Dawn started to say with the surprise and shock evident in her voice.

"Yeah…that's a parachute!" Xander said in disbelief as he quickly noted that the parachute was going to be coming down in the forest not too far from them.

"Should we go check it out? Maybe they need help?" Dawn said as she kept her eyes on the descending parachute.

"Yeah…Yeah I think you're right," Xander replied in an absent voice still watching the parachute descend slowly.

He was about to rush off into the woods, but memories tugged at him. The memories from when he'd been a soldier that Halloween yelled at him not to rush off. Xander could have slapped himself at being so unprepared as that wasn't like him. Quickly popping the trunk of his car, he rummaged through it looking for equipment. He grabbed a couple of flashlights and found a utility knife from work. He also snagged a first aid kit and found about 20 feet of leftover heavy polyester rope that he tossed in his trunk weeks ago from one of his work sites.

Dawn looked at him curiously as he held the rope in his hand, "Xander…what are you planning?"

He looked a little confused at the question and then realized why Dawn was asking, "It's just something I recalled from my soldier memories. If whoever or whatever is on the end of that parachute gets stuck in a tree we may need this to get them down."

Dawn nodded her understanding as she took one of the flashlights that he offered. They made their way into the woods in the direction of where the parachute was still descending.

**oOoOo**

Cassie blinked, trying to focus her eyes. At first she felt disoriented and her head throbbed. It took a few minutes for her to realize that she was hanging upside down from a tree about five meters off the ground. She knew that she was still feeling the effects of her rapid re-entry into the planet's atmosphere and ejection, but the important news was that she was alive. She slowly moved her hands and feet, letting out a sigh that there was no pain.

_Okay Ace...now you just have to get yourself right-side up and down from this tree_, she thought as she tried to push the growing throbbing pain in her head. That's when she felt the wetness on her face. She recalled how she'd been tossed around in her cockpit during re-entry, ejection and the hard landing in the trees.

Memories replayed — her Alpha had suffered engine damage in combat and then everything went white. When things final came back into focus she found herself over a white and blue planet. She didn't have much time to react or think about how she'd gotten there as her fighter was caught in the planet's gravitational pull. She'd luckily had enough engine power to have some control over her re-entry, but the battle damage had been too severe that she started to lose control in the upper atmosphere.

_I must have hit my head on something_, she thought as she felt more sluggish and her vision was starting to blur. A part of Cassie's mind was telling her that she had to get down, but another part was whispering for her to close her eyes and rest. She was debating which part of her mind to listen to as they both made good arguments.

She was distracted from her internal debate as she caught sight of beams of light cutting through the night. Shadows were being cast off as the lights appeared to be coming closer. Cassie was a little hesitant and leery as she saw the lights coming closer.

_If it's the Invid they wouldn't be so subtle… They would probably torch the whole forest down to get to me…_

The lights were still coming closer, she could start to make out the silhouettes of people in the shadows being cast.

_They look human…_

The pain in her head and blurring vision forced her decision. Cassie decided to take a chance and she moved her hand slowly to wave to the approaching people. She could make out the voices talking.

"Xander…over this way!"

Cassie's helmet visor dimmed the glare of lights shining up at her. She heard more voices, but she was having problems concentrating now. She heard a man's voice speaking to her.

"Are you alright? Can you hear me?"

Cassie wanted to respond, but she found she couldn't speak. She had to force herself to wave weakly again.

"Xander it looks like they're hurt!"

"Yeah… Looks like I can get up this tree. I'll get up there and tie this rope to them and cut them free and then lower them down. Dawn…be ready to grab them and ease them to the ground. Be careful we don't know how badly they're hurt."

"Gotcha."

Cassie found herself drifting in and out of consciousness. It felt like an eternity, but she heard someone struggle up the tree beside her. She then felt strong hands grabbing on to her flight suit, hearing a man's voice trying to talk to her.

"Are you alright? Don't worry we'll get you down from here. I've got you."

Cassie was barely aware of the rope being tied to her. She finally got a look of the man talking to her, before she gave into the darkness calling her. She saw a man's face and was surprised to see that he was wearing an eye patch. He looked to be just a bit older than her, but it was the eye patch that drew her in as she remembered reading stories about pirates when she was a kid.

_He looks kind of sexy for a pirate_, she thought as the darkness took her.

**oOoOo**

Xander felt his muscles strain as he lowered the person — obviously a pilot — down from the tree. What had surprised him the most was when he realized that the pilot was a woman as he found it hard not to notice from the tight fitting flight suit that seemed to hug her curves in all the right places. He pushed any lecherous thoughts aside as it was also obvious that the pilot was hurt and he concentrated on making sure he got her down safely while keeping himself from falling out of the tree.

He exhaled a deep sigh of relief as he saw Dawn signal that she had gotten a hold of the pilot, watching as she gently lowered the pilot to the ground. Xander caught his breath and quickly made his way to the ground, just barely avoiding slipping a couple of times. He let out another deep sigh of relief to be back on solid ground. He'd been so focused on getting the pilot down that he hadn't noticed how off balance he'd felt with only one good eye. He knelt down beside the pilot as Dawn was looking her over.

"I don't see any obvious injuries," she said.

"Want to give me a hand with this helmet?" Xander asked.

Dawn nodded and at first Xander fumbled trying to figure out how to get the helmet off. He finally realized that the helmet was attached to the pilot's flight suit, creating an air-tight seal. It took a few more minutes of carefully and gently feeling around that he finally figured out how to pop the seal.

"Easy…" Xander said as he held the pilot's head as Dawn eased the helmet off.

They both grimaced as they saw the blood covering the pilot's face. They could see the pilot's chest moving up and down, so she was still breathing. Xander couldn't help but linger his gaze over the pilot's chest as it moved up and down.

"Xander!" Dawn said shaking her head as she caught him staring.

"W-What! I-I was only making sure that she was breathing!" he quickly said startled at being caught.

"Men!" Dawn muttered with disgust as she went back to checking the pilot's head wound and cleaning the blood up.

A few minutes past by as Xander watched Dawn administer first-aid, "So what's the prognosis Doctor?" he asked with a smirk.

Dawn shook her head slowly, "She's breathing and it looks like she might have a concussion. I've patched up the gash on her head, but she's still unconscious. Should we call for help? We can't leave her here."

Xander had been contemplating the same issue, but while Dawn had been tending to the pilot's injuries he had been studying the pilot herself. There were several things that were bothering him. He had lost count of how many times he'd watched "Top Gun" growing up and the flight suit that this pilot was wearing wasn't like anything he'd ever seen before — the helmet and suit almost looked like a space suit. He didn't recognize any of the insignia on the pilot's flight suit and he had no idea what "REF" meant that was on one of her shoulder badges. The last thing that bothered him was the pilot herself. It wasn't that she was a female, it was that she was so young looking, maybe a couple of years older than Dawn, maybe twenty-one…twenty-two at the most. The final clincher was that her short-cropped hair was purple, which he knew wasn't military standard.

"What do you suggest?" Xander asked because he found himself at a loss of what to do next.

"We take her back home and then we can figure out what to do next," Dawn suggested quickly.

Xander sighed and started shaking his head, "No way! That's not an option. I promised Buffy to get you away and keep you safe!"

Dawn looked up, meeting his eye. He saw the fierce determination in her look and he sighed as he knew that Dawn could be just as stubborn — even more so — than her sister.

"Tell me honestly that you didn't want to stay and help the others? Tell me that you aren't feeling anything about running away?" she asked.

Xander felt a flash of anger at how she had worded the question. He wasn't running away. He was only doing what Buffy had asked him to do. He took a deep breath to calm down as she did have a point as well, it was bothering him leaving his friends behind at this critical moment.

_Buffy won't be too upset with me… We did rescue someone that needed our help… To be honest, I'm curious to find out more about our mystery pilot… Yeah, Buffy won't be too upset…I hope_, he thought as he looked at the unconscious pilot again, making up his mind.

**oOoOo**

To say that Buffy had been angry when Dawn walked back through the front door was an understatement, but her anger quickly turned to shock and confusion as Xander followed through the door carrying an unconscious young woman wearing a strange outfit and obviously injured. It had taken a long moment for everyone to snap into action and they quickly put her in Dawn's room. Buffy was still trying to figure out what was going on. Her confused look was mirrored on Giles and the other Scoobies as Dawn and Xander told their story about their mystery guest.

"So, do you think she's with the military?" Giles asked.

Xander got a strange look on his face, "She's with somebody's military…" he said as he pulled out a small metal case, sitting it on the dining room table and opening it, "…but I don't think it's from any military we're familiar with."

Everybody looked at the open case and the contents inside.

"What's this?" Buffy asked.

"It's a survival kit…when pilots eject, they have supplies attached to their ejection seat and chute. Basic stuff…food, water, rescue beacon/radio—"

"Is that a gun?" Willow asked with wide eyes.

Xander shook his head, "Looks like one, but it's not like anything I've seen before."

"It looks like a blaster from Star Wars," Faith blurted out catching everyone by surprise, causing them to turn and look at her strangely.

Faith got an uncomfortable sheepish look on her face as she saw everyone look at her strangely, "Uh… I saw the movie while I was in prison…" she quickly added, "There wasn't anything else on and I was bored."

"It looks more out of Star Trek than Star Wars," Andrew interjected to add his geek knowledge to the conversation.

A small smile came to Xander's face as he shook his head, "Anyway…as Faith and Andrew have pointed out, this weapon isn't like anything I've ever seen before…there are no bullets."

"So she's an alien?" Anya quickly added causing everyone to look at her.

"What? Well she has to be an alien…did you not see the purple hair," she quickly added.

"I kinda like the look," Faith said with a grin, again getting strange looks from the others.

"Uh yes… This is all well and good, but all we have here is circumstantial evidence at best," Giles said as he looked over the contents of the survival case. He picked up one of the food packages to study it. He pushed his glasses up to focus on the small print on the container. He arched an eyebrow as he read the small print.

Buffy picked up on the change in Giles's demeanor, "What's wrong?"

"Uh…nothing. I think its best that we hold off on any conjecture until our guest is awake and we can ask her some questions."

Giles had seen the expiry date along with the small print for the food container and it only raised more questions. His mind was trying to wrap around the wording that he read, "_Packaged for the Robotech Expeditionary Force in Monument City, Earth best before June 27, 2049_".


	4. Focus on your jobs

**CHAPTER FOUR:**

**Focus on your jobs…**

Robin Wood was enjoying the peace and quiet of his drive. He had the windows rolled down rather than using the air conditioning — he wanted to feel the wind and sun on his skin. As he drove he let his mind wander listening to some light music coming over the radio. He wanted to put all the dangers and threats he and the others were facing aside for the moment. He let his mind relax and tried to not dwell on the threats they were all facing. As he tried to relax, he only half heard the news broadcast that filled the gaps between the music.

_"NASA scientists are still at a loss to explain the recent gravitational disturbances that were detected near the moon. There is no clear explanation as to what caused the disturbances, but there was some impact on the planet's tidal system for a day… Some amateur astronomers have reported seeing a blinding flash of light coming from the area of the detected disturbances near the southern polar area of the moon which is causing speculation among the astronomer community that a comet or a large meteor has struck the moon, but a spokesperson for NASA is dismissing those claims as there is no evidence of any lunar impact. At this time the Whitehouse has no comment other than that they are currently monitoring the situation…"_

Robin hadn't been paying attention to the news broadcast, if he had it wouldn't have phased him. He finally reached his destination and parked his car and made his way to the house's front door. Problems with the moon would have paled with what he was facing. Up until the Hellmouth decided to get active, he had been a principal at a high school and now he had to face the prospect of dealing with the First Evil and an army of super vampires. He felt that he could almost cope with those threats, but what seemed to stretch his limits was every time he walked into Buffy's home and had to deal with the chaos that seemed to hang over the place. He paused as he reached the front door and took a deep breath before he knocked and stepped once more into the chaos.

He didn't have to wait long for the chaos to arrive as the door was quickly answered by Dawn.

"Hello Principal Wood…" Dawn said with a big smile, but she had that usually teenage uptightness when they had to face their school principal.

Robin let out a little sigh, "Relax Dawn… I'm not the principal anymore… You can call me Mr. Wood or even better yet just call me Robin."

"Yes Princ— I mean Mr. Wood." Dawn replied still a little nervous.

They stood in the doorway for a long moment.

"Uhh Dawn…"

"Yes Mr. Wood…"

Robin motioned to the open door and Dawn finally realized that she was keeping him from entering. She stepped aside and he stepped into the house. He tried hard not to shake his head. He heard a large number of female voices talking scattered throughout the house. He stood there for a moment looking around the house.

Dawn picked up on what he was looking for, "They're in the kitchen… We had a bit of excitement last night."

Robin listened to Dawn as they made their way to the kitchen. He heard her babbling about fireballs and parachutes, but he wasn't sure that he'd heard her properly. He walked into the kitchen and saw the others talking. It didn't take long for him to realize that he hadn't misheard Dawn.

He looked at everyone incredulously as he heard the story recounted, "You sure she isn't US military?"

Xander showed Robin the pilot's survival kit he'd recovered. Robin shook his head as he studied the contents. He picked up some of the contents to study them like Giles had done. He read the small print.

"This is a joke…right?" he said blinking and making sure he'd read it correctly.

Giles quickly interjected, "I think we should reserve any judgements or speculation until we've had a chance to talk to the pilot."

"How's the alien doing?" Anya quickly added.

Giles sighed and was about to saw something when Buffy spoke up, "I just checked in on our guest. She's still out, but she's breathing fine and her color is good. She should be coming out of it soon."

Robin still couldn't believe what he was hearing and seeing. As he listened to the back and forth conversations, he glanced towards Faith and caught her looking his way. He let out an internal sigh as he still didn't know what to make of this other Slayer. He thought he was getting a good read and understanding of her. He'd picked up on the conflict between the two Slayers. Maybe he would have had a better read on Faith if he hadn't slept with her and complicated the situation. He'd been surprised when she'd literally tackled him to the bed and they had gotten hot and heavy. She'd disappeared before he'd woken up and since then she had seemed distant and aloof to him. They hadn't had a chance to be alone to talk since then. He originally hadn't planned on sticking around very long after checking in, but with the unconscious mystery pilot here, he was curious to find out what was going on. He glanced again towards Faith and thought maybe if he stuck around that he would also get a chance to talk to Faith.

**oOoOo**

Cassie was having strange dreams…space battles…falling from the sky…hanging from trees…pirates. She finally opened her eyes slowly and tried to focus while dealing with a throbbing pain in her head. As she focused and became aware of her surroundings, she was surprised to find herself in a bed — a real bed. She slowly raised her head trying to push back the pain and looked around the room. She gingerly felt her head feeling the bandage wrapped it.

She blinked a couple of times trying to get her eyes to focus. The throbbing pain in her head was telling her to lie back down, but her training was telling her to get up and analyze her surroundings and determine where she was and what threats she faced. Flashes of her survival training course came rushing back. She took a deep breath and sat up and was immediately hit with dizziness and a wave of nausea. She debated about lying back down, but she took a moment to wait for everything to settle down. She looked around the room and could easily tell that it belonged to a young woman — the colors and décor reminded Cassie somewhat of her room growing up on Tirol. She might have changed the color scheme a bit and added posters of Veritechs and Destroids to the walls, but this was definitely a young woman's room.

_It's got a different strange feeling to it though_, she thought as she looked around for any threats or weapons.

She didn't see anything that she could use as a weapon. That she wasn't being restrained was a good sign or just a sign of carelessness on the part of her captors. She checked inside her flight boot and the survival knife was still there. That trick was something that she had picked up in survival training from one of her instructors.

_Thank you Dana Sterling for being so tough on us_, Cassie thought as she recalled the hell that she and the others had been put through.

Cassie felt herself sway unsteadily as she got up and tried to stay quiet as she made her way to the door.

_Not much in the way of security_, she thought as she noted the simple wooden door and that the lock was on the inside of the room.

She froze as she heard movement outside the room. Cassie decided to risk a look as she quietly opened the door and she saw two young woman talking — looking to be in their mid-teens — walking down the hall towards the stairs. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but they were definitely not worried about her or about the security of wherever she was.

Cassie was going to move into the hallway, but she heard footsteps coming up the stairs and she quickly retreated back into the room making sure the door was closed. She debated what to do. She was working with no information dealing with a completely unknown situation. She quickly retrieved her survival knife and palmed it into her sleeve of her flight suit. She laid back down and closed her eyes and took deep breaths to relax as she closed her eyes and waited.

It didn't take long for the bedroom door to open and Cassie could sense someone coming into the room and heard the footstep coming closer. For a moment Cassie debated on her ad hoc plan, but she didn't want to give up any initiative or surprise that she had. She tried to control her breathing and heart beat as she felt her body tense up. She finally felt someone lean in closer to her and felt them check the bandage on her head. From the light touch and the breathing she could hear, she could tell it was a female. Cassie thought over her plan one more time.

_Fortune favors the bold_, she thought and she got ready as she tried to judge the position of the person checking on her.

**oOoOo**

It was Anya's turn to check on their mystery patient. She was a little curious to take another look at the alien. She had seen how Xander had looked over the unconscious female and she felt a slight twinge of jealousy. She knew that they weren't going to get back together, but they had a nice sexual arrangement in place and she was happy with things as they were. She would refuse to admit that there was a part of her that wished that their relationship was back to the way it was before their disastrous marriage attempt.

Anya sat on the bed next to the unconscious woman. She seemed to be peacefully resting — which was more than Anya could say these days that they were having with the threat of the Bringers, Turok-Hans and especially Caleb hanging over them. At the thought of Caleb, Anya wished that she was still a vengeance demon. She hated Caleb for what he'd done to her Xander and she could think a number of excruciating tortures she wanted to inflict on Caleb. Anya pushed thoughts of vengeance aside for a moment as she checked on the woman's bandage. She seemed to be still—

Anya's eyes went wide as she saw the young woman suddenly with her eyes open and looking at her with a serious look. What was most disconcerting was the knife the young woman was holding to her throat.

"How many?" the young woman asked in a quiet serious whisper.

Anya was having a hard time dealing with the situation. She found herself afraid to respond.

"How many?" the young woman asked again sounding impatient.

"How…how many what?" Anya responded nervously as she felt the blade against her throat.

"How many in this building?""

Anya closed her eyes for a moment and tried not to make any sudden movements, "Uhhh… I've lost count… twenty maybe thirty in the house." she replied warily unsure how this was going to go for her and the others.

"Damn..." Anya heard the other woman mutter.

There was a long moment of silence as Anya could see the woman thinking about what she was going to do.

"Okay… We're going to get up and move nice and slowly and were going to exit here… Understood?"

Anya nodded slowly, but then a strange thought went through her mind, "Wh…Where are we going?" she asked quietly.

Cassie was suddenly struck with the realization that she hadn't thought out her plan completely. She started to have doubts about her course of action and it was hard to concentrate as her head was still throbbing. For a moment she debated about tying up the woman and escaping out the window, but she felt waves of dizziness hit her and she didn't think she could manage the required balancing act.

_No…only way out is through the front door. Once I get out and away I can then have time to think and plan my next steps_, she thought.

"Do you have a transport?" Cassie asked forcefully.

"Transport?" Anya replied confused.

"Vehicle! Do you have a vehicle?" Cassis hissed as she held the knife tighter to the woman's throat.

Anya was trying not to panic. They had a couple of cars but the keys were downstairs. She needed to keep calm and somehow alert the others.

"Yes… We have a couple of cars, but the keys are downstairs."

"Damn…" Cassie muttered again.

"Okay… We're going to take a nice walk downstairs…get the keys and then get into a car and leave. Once I put some distance between here, I'll let you go and no one gets hurt… Understood?" Cassie said forcefully.

Anya nodded slowly.

Cassie stood up slowly getting Anya to stand with her. They made their way to the door and Cassie opened it slowly and checked the hallway. It looked clear and for the moment she couldn't hear any voices from downstairs. She took a deep breath and pushed Anya out the door ahead of her keeping the knife close to her throat. It was slow moving like this and Cassie would have preferred more space between herself and her hostage, but she was also using her hostage to maintain her balance as the room was starting to spin again.

Anya picked up that the woman wasn't doing well and was still feeling the effects of her injury, "You're hurt… you need to rest. You're safe here, you were brought here… You can trust us."

Cassie was about to respond when she heard a noise from down the hall — she recognized the sounds of a bathroom and the door opened quickly catching her off guard. It was hard to tell who was more surprised — Cassie or the Potential who stepped into the hallway to see Anya with a knife held to her throat. Before Cassie could say anything the young woman screamed and she could feel her great escape plan blowing up. She had no choice as she tried to push away her dizziness and the grayness that was starting to cloud the edges of her vision. She pushed Anya roughly towards the stairs, her plan to get a vehicle was toast. She was hoping to just get out of the building and outside.

They had barely started down the stairs when a group of people, mostly young looking woman came rushing towards the stairs and they stopped looking in shock at what was unfolding.

**oOoOo**

Buffy along with the others in the kitchen had heard the screams and rushed into the living room. It was still daylight, so she was trying to figure out what kind of threat they were facing as she came into the room followed by the others. She found herself out of sorts and off-balance trying to process what was unfolding as she looked up and saw their mystery patient holding a knife to Anya's throat. She found herself resisting the urge to charge in and she made eye contact with Faith to make sure that she didn't do anything rash. Buffy caught the slow nod from her fellow Slayer as she moved slowly to the far side of the room to try and circle around on the threat as they came down the stairs.

Buffy held her hands up, "Okay… I don't know what the problem is, but I'm sure we can talk things out. Why don't you put down the knife and we can talk."

"EVERYONE STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" shouted their mystery guest.

Buffy winced as the injured woman had picked up on Faith's movements and intent. Buffy was trying to figure out how to defuse the situation and keep everyone — especially Anya — from getting hurt. She was caught off guard as Xander stepped forward and started speaking in a soft calm voice.

"Hey…it's okay. We're not here to hurt you. We saw your parachute and we got you down from the tree you were stuck in. We just want to help and make sure you're not hurt. If you can put the knife down we can talk…"

Cassie was caught by surprise as she saw the man step forward and speak out. She saw his eye patch and images from her dreams flashed back. She remembered hearing a voice saying that she would be alright. She felt another wave of dizziness hit her and her vision was greying out again. A part of her wanted to believe what she was hearing, but her training was telling her to escape.

"I…I just want to leave…" Cassie muttered out.

"You're hurt… you need to rest. When you're better you can leave… Hell I'll take you any place you want to go." Xander said with a smirk as he started to move slowly up the stairs holding his hands up.

"I… I need to…" Cassie slurred out as she felt her head start throbbing harder and the room was starting to spin making it hard for her to keep her balance.

"Where do you need to go? Is there anyone we can call for you?" Xander asked with concern as he moved slowly closer as he could tell that the injured woman wasn't doing well.

"I… I have to contact my ship… I ha…have to get back…" Cassie managed to say as her body finally gave in and she lost her grip on her knife and prisoner. She could feel herself falling forwards down the stairs and she couldn't stop it.

The last thing she saw, before the darkness returned, was the one-eyed man catching her in mid fall. She saw a small smile on his face and his one good eye had a kind look in it as he looked at her.

She couldn't help get a small smile on her face in return as she heard him talk to her, "It's okay… I've got you… You're going to be okay…"

**oOoOo**

_He was running…_

_The background noises of screams, shouting, weapons firing, explosions and sirens followed him…threatening to catch him and engulf him in in their deadly embrace. Smoke from the fires filled his nostrils as he ran as fast as his small legs could carry him._

_He ran because his mom had told him too. He tried to keep up with his mom and baby sister as she had lost her grip on his hand. They were trying to get to the shelters, but the fighting had forced them away from that apparent haven of safety. Zentraedi fighters and power armor roared across the sky firing missiles and plasma beams._

_The little boy looked up and saw Veritechs responding to the attack…missiles, lasers and autocannons roared back at the attackers. He saw several of the Veritechs with the easily recognizable skull and crossbones insignia on the tail…his dad flew with that squadron._

_He was tempted to stop and watch as several of the Veritechs took on a wave of fighters. The pair of Veritechs switched from fighter mode to Guardian and then to Battloid mode. They destroyed a large number of Zentraedi attackers, but eventually the numbers were too great and one of the Veritechs blew up in a huge explosion._

_The lone Veritech fought desperately across the sky and it destroyed several more Zentraedi ships before it got caught in a hail of plasma crossfire and exploded as well. Paul stopped in the street as he saw the burning debris fall from the sky…a part of him knew that was his father. He heard his mother scream his name and he turned to look at her…tears ran down his face as he looked at her. She was screaming at him to catch up to her._

_He tried to get his feet to move, but they were frozen to the ground. He heard his mother scream his name again and he finally started to move towards her and his sister. He saw a smile start to form on her face, but it was suddenly cut short as a huge explosion went off near them engulfing them in a huge fireball. Paul saw his mother's almost smile turn to a look of horror as the fireball engulfed her and his sister. He heard their blood curdling screams just before the blast wave hit him and threw him backwards through the air._

Captain Paul Coleiro groggily opened his eyes and tried to focus as he heard his communication console beeping. He reached tiredly over and pressed the talk button.

"Coleiro here…" he said tiredly

"Captain… Sorry to disturb you, but you asked to be called in two hours with an engineering status update."

Coleiro yawned tiredly, "Go ahead Lieutenant…"

"Reflex furnace has been stabilized, though there are still minor fluctuations being detected. We are at 65% power levels… We're no longer running off emergency power. Engineering reports that we should have full furnace power within the next twelve to fifteen hours…"

"Engine status?"

"Engine number two is heavily damaged from the fighting… Thrusters are still off-line and we have limited emergency engine power. We can move, but very slowly. Until the Reflex furnace is fully stabilized and at full power levels we have no major maneuvering or jump capability."

"Status of hull breaches?" the Captain asked as he became more alert.

"Damage control parties have sealed the most serious breaches. We have sealed off those areas in non-critical areas that we can go back to later."

"Weapons, Sensors and Comms status?"

"We have limited point-defense capability… We have enough power that we can fire three maybe four of the main turrets…once maybe twice if we're lucky. All missiles are available, but our targeting scanners are still off-line that we have to aim and fire manually. Sensors are back on-line but are limited range…out to 5,000 km. Long-range com systems are still off-line. Whatever hit the ship fried a lot of the com systems."

"Any further info on the…planet?"

"Sir…" the Lieutenant's voice started hesitantly, "…from the few com systems still working, we are picking up some audio and video broadcasts from the planet. We have compared star and constellation positions and done a visual scan looking at the geography and compared to what we have in our databases from before…'The Rain of Death' and to all intents and purposes it looks like that planet outside our windows is…Earth"

Coleiro ran his hand over his tired face as he tried to process what the Lieutenant was telling him. He was one of the few survivors that was old enough to remember Earth and he was still having problems believing that they were back at Earth. When they had first realized they were back in the Sol system, there had been tense minutes waiting for the Invid to attack them, but then came audio signals from the planet and they showed only human activity and habitation on the planet. What was really disturbing and making it hard to believe was the date mentioned in some of the broadcasts.

_May 2003… We're back in 2003 a year before I was born… No SDF-1… No Macross City… There's been no "Rain of Death"… There's over six billion humans running around the planet… No remains of Dolza's fleet drifting in space… No Satellite Factory orbiting… No Invid occupation…_

"Thank you Lieutenant. I'll be back on the bridge within fifteen minutes. Make sure that all damage control teams are being rotated and taking their rest schedules… We don't want to wear everyone out…we're pretty short-handed."

"Yes Sir! Understood Sir!"

Coleiro cut the connection and stood up slowly feeling some of his muscles twinge. He took a quick moment to stretch and decided to push off the shower until later. He opted to change into a clean uniform and make his way to the bridge.

As he made his way to the bridge deck, Paul's mind flashed back over the last several days and he found that he was still at a loss to even come up with an explanation of what had happened. They had tried to piece together what had happened from those few officers and ratings onboard the _Arcadia_ that had survived the space-fold. Whatever weapon the aliens had hit the ship with while it was attempting to execute a space-fold caused what the engineering staff would only refer to as a "major event".

The Captain was only a simple fighter jock and had asked the survivors what they meant by "major event" and he was answered with a lot of math, conjecture and shrugs as the so-called experts — still alive — couldn't explain it. The only thing they could say with some certainty was that something happened to the space-fold engines much in the same way that something happened to the SDF-1's jump engines back during the first Zentraedi attack on Earth. Those engines had mysteriously disappeared and no one ever did figure out where they went. One theory was that instead of the engines disappearing this time, the whole ship went.

Whatever theory was right, all Paul could recall from the actual event was the horrible screams coming over the com channels from the _Arcadia_ as the space-fold field expanded — then everything went white. When he had come to, he'd found his ship drifting in space along with a number of escape pods and shuttles from the cruiser. It had taken some time to reorient himself and get control of the situation. He had hailed the _Arcadia_ — with no response. It felt like an eternity, but eventually one of the survivors from engineering managed to access the com system and was able to communicate with him.

To his surprise and shock, he found out that he was the only surviving senior officer and he quickly took charge. He was finally able to get his fighter and all the escape pods and shuttles back aboard the cruiser. Main power was out and the ship was floating dead in space on emergency power. Normally an Ikazuchi-class Cruiser had a normal complement of 1117 men and women to man it. Between the few crew alive inside — all in the engineering sections — and those outside they only had 378 people still alive.

With main power out and engines not responding, the cruiser had been caught in the moon's gravitational field and was being drawn down to the satellite. Once the survivors were back aboard, it had taken every man and woman working all out to save the ship. They managed to stabilize the cruiser's orbit and got the ship parked only about ten kilometers above the surface of the moon's southern pole. The shock of the realization of where — and apparently when — they were was just now sinking in.

Paul tried to push his thoughts and feelings down for now as he concentrated on keeping the ship functional and the surviving crew alive.

_There'll be a lot of time later to worry about the impact and repercussions later on…hopefully after a few drinks_, he thought.

Paul arrived on the bridge deck within the fifteen minute window he'd given himself. Normally the bridge deck should have been crowded with officers and ratings, but it was a very sparse crowd made up of only five crew members — they were lower ranks and junior officers that had been in the escape pods and shuttles. The only bridge officers to survive were 3rd Lieutenant Aaron Hanson who was a communications specialist and Ensign Monica Connors who was a navigator. For lack of anyone else, these people were now his bridge crew and senior command staff.

The officers and crew came to attention as Paul came on the bridge. He wearily saluted and waved for them to relax. As he approached the Captain's command chair, Paul felt his stomach tighten. He knew that he was required to use that station, but it still didn't sit well with him as he'd known Commodore Lau for years and had respected her immensely.

They were still trying to figure out what had happened to the majority of the crew. From the sensor logs, there were readings that the radiation levels inside the ship reached intense levels. One theory being debated was that the crew — including Commodore Lau — had been vaporized. Those that had been lucky to survive had been in the shielded engineering sections. Paul tried to not spend too much time dwelling on what had happened to Lau and the rest of the crew as it gave him shivers as he recalled the screams over the com channels.

Paul hesitantly sat in the command chair — trying not to show his discomfort and again trying to push away the memories of the screams — looking out the bridge windows at the view of the lunar surface and off in the distance a blue and white world.

"Has there been any indication that they…" Paul motioned with his head toward Earth, "…have detected us?"

No Sir! Not yet at least for what we have been able to glean from radio intercepts…" Lieutenant Hanson replied quickly.

Coleiro got a grim look as he realized it was only a matter of time before someone looking their way with a telescope or radar would pick them up.

"Okay…let's make sure that our repair priorities are getting our propulsion systems back on-line once our Reflex furnace has stabilized." Paul directed seeing his bridge crew nod in acknowledgement.

"Have we detected any other shuttles, escape pods or any other ships that may have come through with us?" he asked.

Lieutenant Hanson replied again, "There's lots of debris floating out there that was caught up in our space-fold field. We haven't seen or detected any other manned craft, but then again our scanner range is limited."

Paul raised a quizzical eyebrow as he picked up the wording, "Lieutenant… Please explain what you mean by 'manned craft'?"

Paul saw the Lieutenant start to squirm, "Uh… Sorry Sir. What I meant to say was that we've picked up hard signals from at least twenty-two of those new Shadow Drone fighters. They appear to be powered down and drifting."

Paul gave the young Lieutenant a strange looking smirk, "And pray tell Lieutenant, what are you doing to try and retrieve those drones? As you may have noticed we are somewhat lacking in Veritech pilots at this particular time and we might need a fighter screen."

Paul got a satisfied feeling as he saw the Lieutenant visibly gulp, "Uhhh... Sir… We are trying to re-establish remote control of the drones, but they're not responding to remote commands." Hanson replied getting more visibly nervous.

"And?"

"That could mean that their AI systems could be damaged…" Hanson answered as he started to reason out the problem.

"And?" Paul said still looking at Hanson.

Suddenly the light bulb went off in Hanson's head, "We'll have to go out and manually retrieve all the drones and bring them back in."

"Yes Lieutenant… I know everyone is tired and busy, but we need those drones retrieved and repaired."

Inside Coleiro was letting out a small sigh of relief that they had located the drones, but he was hoping that the damage wasn't too severe and they could be easily repaired. Other than the drones, Paul was the only fighter pilot that had made the transition with the _Arcadia_ and that left the ship without any fighter screen.

"Reassign the shuttle crews to oversee the recovery. I want to see their plan before they go out. Everyone is tired and we don't need to lose anyone to a stupid mistake while tired. Understood?"

Lieutenant Hanson came to attention, "Yes Sir!"

A small tired smile came to Paul's face, "Lieutenant Hanson…" he started to say and he then looked at the rest of his bridge crew, "Everyone… Relax… Just focus on your jobs and what needs to be done. We're alive and I plan to keep us alive and then we can figure out what the hell happened to us, what we do next and how the hell we get back."


	5. Introductions

**CHAPTER FIVE:**

**Introductions**

Cassie opened her eyes, this time the throbbing in her head was only a minor echo compared to what it had been the last time she'd been awake, but as she slowly moved her head she noticed two major differences from the last time she'd woken up. One was the room she was in was different — more formal looking like it belonged to an adult — and the voice that greeted her as she opened her eyes.

The husky accented female voice alerted Cassie that she wasn't alone this time, "So Sleeping Beauty awakes…this time I hope she isn't packing another knife."

The voice had a sarcastic tilt to it and Cassie let out a little groan as she lifted her head higher and looked in the direction of the voice. She was greeted by the sight of a brunette sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. The young woman had hair just below her shoulder and looked to be in her early twenties, which made her older than Cassie. Cassie lifted an eyebrow as she noticed the clothes that the young woman was wearing — completely different from any of the styles she was used to. She rubbed her eyes and the side of her head lightly as a dull throb still continued to make its presence known.

"Where am I?" Cassie asked as she became more aware of her surroundings.

"If there is a bright spot in this world…well you're at the furthest point from that spot. Though we like to call this little piece of paradise Sunnydale."

Cassie was confused as her mind replayed a mix of images and memories — of the battle and of people. She studied the brunette closer. The young woman had sex written across her body by the way she held herself and also the tight low-cut tank top shirt and tight pants she wore were also a give-away. Cassie could feel the brunette give off a vibe — almost like one she'd seen given off by some of the more experienced veteran REF Veritech and Destroid pilots. She saw the eyes of a predator in that face and that put her on guard.

Cassie sat up slowly and saw that her "guard" though appearing to look relaxed was ready to deal with anything. She was still trying to figure out what the brunette meant by this place being Sunnydale.

_Is it the name of a place or the name of this planet_, she thought as she tried to figure out what her next move was going to be.

She recalled her survival training and she was going to limit what she was going to say or tell her captors. She didn't need to blab out details of her task force, their mission or whatever else she knew about REF operations.

**oOoOo**

Faith watched the purple-haired young woman. If she'd had to guess the woman looked to be around twenty…no more than twenty-one. She looked pretty confident for someone so young and for being in a situation like this, though she could detect a hint of fear and nervousness.

_She hides it well_, Faith thought as she studied their now conscious guest.

There had been much discussion and debate after their "guest" had pulled a knife and tried to use Anya as a human shield to escape. Anya and some of the others had been all for tying up their unconscious guest, but Xander had convinced them otherwise, by arguing that the woman had only been trying to leave and in the end hadn't hurt anyone — even Anya admitted that the woman had said she just wanted to leave. They had all been surprised by Giles supporting Xander's position stating that they needed to talk to this woman when she was conscious and that it would be better if they tried to start from a position of friendship rather than her being a prisoner. Faith also figured it hadn't hurt their guest's cause that she was pretty as she had noticed how Xander had been checking their guest out.

The rest of the group finally grudgingly agreed with Xander and Giles, but that didn't mean that they wouldn't take precautions. They planned to have someone in the room watching her until she was conscious — which just so happened when it was Faith's watch.

Faith stood up and opened the bedroom door — they had moved their guest into Joyce's old bedroom — and called out down the hall. Cassie winced a bit at the yell as her head was still a little sensitive, but there was no more spinning room and her vision was clear. It wasn't long before several more young women came into the bedroom — a blonde, a redhead and a younger looking brunette. Cassie then saw a man hanging by the door and immediately recognized him as he was wearing the eye patch.

Cassie sat up as the redhead and younger brunette checked her bandage and shone a light in her eyes. The blonde and her brunette guard hung back and were talking to each other in whispers.

"So is she going to live?" Cassie heard the blonde speak out.

"She looks good Buffy… Pupils look good and the wound on her head is healing." the redhead replied looking at the blonde.

The redhead turned to Cassie, "You may have some minor headaches for a while and a nasty bump. How're you feeling?" she said with a small smile.

Cassie couldn't help but smile at the redhead's friendliness, "Better…you have some water?"

The young looking brunette immediately produced a bottle of water, catching Cassie a little off-guard, "Thought you might be thirsty." she said with her own youthful smile.

"Thanks." Cassie said taking the bottle. She read the label as she twisted open the cap. She was surprised that she could understand the people and she could read the language, but it didn't make any sense to her. It said, "_Bottled in Modesto, CA, USA – Best Before Nov. 2005_".

Cassie was interrupted from her thoughts as the blonde woman started speaking, "Now that you're feeling better, maybe you can answer some questions."

The tone that the blonde had used wasn't threatening, but Cassie had picked up on the seriousness and gave the blonde a good look over. She looked to be in her early twenties and the serious look seemed out of place on her pretty face. She picked up on her body language and the blonde held herself very much like the other brunette — someone who had seen a lot of combat. Cassie didn't get a threatening vibe from these people, but there was something going on that was serious and seemed to be hanging over them. She would talk to them, but she would watch what she would say for the moment.

**oOoOo**

Giles sat at the dining room table, watching as Buffy and the others escorted their guest into the dining room. All the Potentials, Robin, Anya and Spike were gathered crowded around as they were curious to find out more about their mystery guest.

Giles stood up as the women — with Xander following — came closer, "Please sit down." he said offering an empty chair at the end of the table for the young woman. He watched as the woman hesitated for a moment and he could tell that she was studying the room, trying to get a sense of her situation. She nodded and slowly took the offered chair.

"How are you feeling?" Giles asked as he sat back down and by reflex he took off his glasses and started cleaning the lenses.

"Better…thanks." replied the young woman.

Giles nodded, "I guess it's time for some proper introductions. My name is Rupert Giles and you are…?"

Cassie let out a sigh. She knew that this was coming and even though she didn't detect any direct threats, her military training took hold.

"I'm Third Lieutenant Cassidy Evans…serial number 07212023."

Giles shook his head as he immediately understood what the young woman was doing, "I'm sorry…but I think you've got the wrong impression. You are not a prisoner…quite the contrary, I have a lot of questions about who you are and where you come from."

Cassie was a little taken aback on hearing that she wasn't a prisoner. She decided to push her luck.

"So I can just get up right now and walk out the door?"

"Oh my…of course you can leave, but I would advise against it as it is nighttime right now and I would strongly advise against going outside right now…there are many dangers that I would say that you are probably unprepared to face."

This brought some chuckles from some of the people in the crowd and Cassie was a little confused.

"So…in the morning I can leave and go anywhere I want to?"

Cassie was surprised when the one-eye man stepped forward with a small smile on his face, "I told you earlier that I would drive you wherever you wanted to go. Just give me a direction and away we go."

Cassie had a flash of a memory. She was standing looking down at people and she was holding a knife to someone's throat and a man's voice was talking calmly to her. She looked at the faces of the people in the room, trying to get a sense of her situation and the threat she was facing. She could see something in a lot of the faces and it wasn't what she'd been expecting. She could see stress and an underlying sense of worry and fear, but it wasn't directed at her. They were looking at her as more of a curiosity and an unknown — well except maybe for one of the blondes standing off to the side of this Giles character. Cassie was getting an angry glare from her whenever they met eyes.

"Okay I'll answer some of your questions…if I can, but you have to answer some of my questions. Agreed?"

Giles was a little surprised at the forwardness of this purple-haired young woman. He studied her further and for someone her age, she had a look in her eyes that was different. It took him a moment to realize what it was and that this young woman reminded him of Buffy in some ways.

_She's seen battle before and she's faced death…_

"Agreed… You can go ahead and ask your questions first."

Cassie nodded, "Thanks."

Giles was then surprised as the young woman suddenly got a sheepish look on her face as she spoke, "Can you tell me where I am and how I got here?"

Xander spoke up before Giles could say anything, "You're in Sunnydale…we found you hanging in a tree after you parachuted. It looked like your plane was on fire and you jumped…ejected out."

He saw the young woman — Cassidy — shake her head and he could tell that she was trying to recall what had happened.

"Is there anyone that we can call or if you want you can use our phone to call whoever you need to." Xander added helpfully as he smiled at Cassidy.

Xander was a little surprised to see a sheepish confused look on the young woman and he and the others only got more confused as they heard her next question.

"Uhhh…maybe you can tell me what planet I'm on?"

**oOoOo**

The room was in stunned silence at Cassie's question. Anya was the first to break the silence.

"I knew it! I told you that she was an alien!"

The others in the room started talking amongst themselves and started looking at the purple-haired woman differently now. Giles could see that this meeting was getting out of control and he held up his hand, "Please everyone…settle down." he said in a calm voice. It took a moment but finally everyone settled down into an uncomfortable silence.

Giles considered how he was going to proceed as he was a little out of his depth. He had a thought bouncing around his head, ever since he'd read the package from the pilot's survival kit. It had been an impossible theory, but then again he dealt with and faced off against magic and the supernatural on a daily basis.

"You're on the planet Earth…"

He saw the stunned look on the young woman's face at his response.

"Bullshit!" she said catching Giles by surprise.

"Why do you say that?" Giles asked.

"Because this can't be Earth… We were nowhere near Earth…if this is Earth then where are the Invid?"

Giles was confused and the others in the room were starting to talk again. He was trying to understand where this Cassidy was from and he was puzzled by what she meant by or who these _Invid_ were.

"I can most assure you that this is Earth." he said.

"Then you're human?" Cassie said shaking her head in confusion.

Giles paused as his eyes shifted over to Spike standing in the corner watching the discussion, "Ahhh yes…more or less." he said getting a slightly confused look from the young woman in response.

"This can't be Earth…there's no way it can be…" Cassie kept muttering to herself as she tried to deal with the information she was being told.

"Why don't you believe this is Earth?" Xander asked curiously.

"Because I was nowhere near Earth, before I woke up here…we were in a system fifteen lights years from Earth!"

There was stunned silence once again as Cassie's words sank in. This time it was Andrew that spoke up, "Who's this 'we' you're talking about?"

Cassie sighed as she tried to wrap her mind around what was happening and what she was being told. She found herself wishing that she still had the throbbing pain in her head as it would at least distract her from trying to think about this situation she found herself in.

"Do you have any star maps…charts of the constellations…anything?" she asked.

Willow spoke up, "I think we got some science or astronomy books around…Dawn, don't you have any of your school textbooks around?"

Dawn nodded and ran to her room to find her text book while Willow checked out the bookshelf. It wasn't long before Dawn came running back flipping through the large textbook. She placed the book in front of Cassie and she was greeted with the sight of the familiar picture of the Milky Way galaxy with an arrow pointing to the Orion Arm of the galaxy then showing a picture of a familiar looking star system with planet names that were very familiar to her.

"It can't be… It can't be…" Cassie kept muttering to herself and beginning to wonder if maybe that she was still unconscious and that this was a dream.

"Maybe if you tell us a little bit more about who you are maybe we can find out what happened to you." Giles said in calm soothing voice.

"Huh…yeah… I'm Third Lieutenant Cassidy Evans… Viper Squadron…17th Mars Division REF." Cassie said blankly as she looked up from the book.

"Uhhh…what's the REF?" Xander asked.

Cassie looked at him strangely, "The REF is the Robotech Expeditionary Force…it was a military force sent from Earth. Its original mission was to try and negotiate with the Robotech Masters and avoid a war, but we ended up fighting the Invid. But if this is Earth then you should know all about us."

Cassie saw the stares and looks of disbelief of the people in the room. They seemed to mirror her at this moment.

Giles was having a hard time reconciling what he was hearing, but that thought was still bouncing around his mind and he finally decided to voice it.

"Leftenant…what's the date?" he asked in a matter of tone.

Cassie was surprised by the question, "I've been out for a few days, but it was November 23…so it must be the 25th or 26th."

"What year?" Giles asked again quietly.

Cassie was shocked by the question and it felt like she'd been slapped. She felt a growing icy dread creep up her spine. She was afraid to answer, but she knew that she had to.

"It's 2042…" she replied quietly.

The room was again stunned into silence, Giles blinked as he heard the answer and his mind tried to process what he'd heard and what the implications of this information would have.

"Leftenant…I'm sorry to inform you that today's date is May 6th, 2003."

Cassie stared blankly at Giles as the words sank in. There was a long moment of silence as Giles could see the troubled look on the young woman's face. He'd considered something like this — however outlandish and impossible ever since he'd read that package label.

"I… I… I… need some air." Cassie said as she got up in a rush and made her way to the front door.

**oOoOo**

Cassie was on the front porch of the house, breathing heavily as she fought back the urge to throw-up. It wasn't long before the older man — Giles — came out the door followed by the some of the others. The man with the eye patch came over to stand beside her.

"You okay?"

Cassie didn't know if she wanted to laugh, cry or scream, "No… I'm not okay. One moment I'm flying across a star system in one of the most advanced fighters in human history and the next I'm on Earth, thirty-nine years in the past."

Cassie looked up at the night sky and could see the full moon. She'd never seen Earth's moon before — except in pictures. She'd been born on Tirol and it was a moon and the night sky was always filled with the planet Fantoma. Her thoughts were interrupted by the blonde speaking up.

"We need to go back inside…it's not safe to stay outside too long."

"Of course Buffy, you're right… Leftenant Evans we need to back inside…please."

Cassie was a little confused, but she was in no mood to argue as she was feeling numb as she tried to deal with what had been dropped on her.

One thought bounced around her head, _Am I alone…is there anyone else?_

**oOoOo**

General Jeremy Rayport was working late in his office going over the latest performance evaluations for his command. He had reached the pinnacle of his career as commander of the 14th Air Force and he was quite satisfied as he'd never had any major political ambitions. His command was a part of the United States Strategic Command involved with Joint Space Operations. His command's operational mission included space launches, satellite command and control, missile warning, space surveillance and command and control of assigned and attached joint space forces.

He put down the personnel file he'd been reading and rubbed his eyes and then stretched turning his neck to work out the kinks. He was just starting to think about calling it night when he heard a knock at his office door.

Rayport was a little surprised that someone was knocking on his door at this late hour and he started to get a little concerned.

"Enter."

Rayport watched as the duty officer — Colonel Brent Parson — entered the office. The General didn't know what to make of this situation.

"Sorry to disturb you sir." the Colonel said as he came to attention in front of the General's desk.

Rayport waved the Colonel at ease, "No problem Colonel. I take it by your late-night visit that we have a situation."

Rayport saw a concerned look on the Colonel's face as he responded, "Sir, we got a call from NASA…as you're aware we had that 'space disturbance' occur near the moon several days ago."

"Yes…we determined that there was no direct threat to the planet and nothing has happened else since then. I thought we decided that we were going to leave it to the eggheads to investigate."

"Yes sir. NASA has been doing just that, but they've been getting some data that is…uh…causing some concern."

Rayport picked up on the Colonel's tone and he started to get a worried feeling, "What data?"

"They report seeing objects drifting in the area where the disturbance occurred."

"What kind of objects?"

"NASA isn't getting any hard readings and that is why they are requesting our 'assistance' on this?"

The General looked at the Colonel, "They must have some idea."

The Colonel looked awkwardly around the room, "Well sir…"

"Spit it out Colonel!"

"Sir…NASA says that if they had to guess is that what they are reading…well…it looks like a debris field around the moon's Southern pole."

Rayport looked at Colonel Parson liked he'd just told him that the moon was made of cheese, "You're joking…NASA is joking with us."

"I wish they were…"

The General could pick-up that there was something else that the Colonel wanted to tell him, "What is it Colonel?"

"Sir, NASA is also reporting that they were getting intermittent hard returns on a large object in the same area as this 'debris field'."

Rayport's eyes widened in surprise at this news and he felt a chill run through his body, "What object?"

"Unknown sir, the returns were sporadic and inconclusive other than indicating that something large was there."

"How big was this object?"

The Colonel's worried look did nothing to reassure the General.

"It was big…"


	6. It couldn't get worse…

**CHAPTER SIX:**

**It couldn't get worse…**

Cassie was back in her room. She was sitting in the middle of the bed with her arms wrapped around her legs scrunching them tight into her body. She was afraid to let go as it felt like that was the only thing maintaining her slender grip on reality or whatever they called this.

Her mind was racing with thoughts as she tried to wrap her mind around the situation she'd found herself in. She had no explanation of how or why she had arrived here. She searched her mind for any ideas, but other than hazily recalling some dry academy classes covering the basics of space-fold theory and space-time mechanics she was at a loss for any rational explanation. At one point she even considered the possibility that she'd died but then concluded that if she was dead that heaven would look at lot better and she didn't think she'd done enough or lived long enough yet to be sent to hell.

She sat there staring at the wall and felt a wave of despair as she contemplated her situation. A part of her mind chided her for being such a silly girl and to suck it up. Even though she was only 19 years old, she was still an officer in the REF, she had her training and duty to perform. Her mind jumped back to when they had gone back inside the house and she had realized that she was in the past and had foreknowledge of the future — she could warn them about the Zentraedi, the Robotech Masters and the Invid.

_I could save the Earth from the Rain of Death_, she'd thought at the time.

She immediately asked to use a phone to contact the UEG and was met with confused stares. A feeling of complete helplessness started to invade her as she started asking more questions — what about SDF-1 and Macross Island — and got blank confused stares in return. When Giles and the redhead — Willow as she introduced herself — explained that there had been no Global Civil War, there was no United Earth Government and no alien ship had landed on Earth back in 1999, that's when Cassie started to lose it. She numbly turned around and went back upstairs to the bedroom she'd woken up in and sat there staring at the walls. Willow and the younger brunette — Dawn — had knocked on the door and asked if she wanted anything. All Cassie could do was mumble that she wasn't hungry.

She felt lost and didn't know what to do. What was worse was when she thought about the battle — memories of seeing the _Vanguard_ blow up and knowing that everyone she knew on her was gone — pulled her further down into despair. That's when the thought that she would never see her family again — her parents and her baby brother and sister — really hit home. They would never know if she was dead or alive. With no body, they would get the dreaded "Missing – Presumed Dead" notification. She could no longer fight back the tears and she buried her face deep into a pillow and sobbed quietly.

_Damn it! I'm a REF Officer, but what the hell good am I? I'm stuck on a planet in a time where they don't know about Robotechnology. Everything I know is almost useless! What the hell am I going to do?!_

Cassie lost track of time and she finally closed her eyes in the hope that sleep would release her from this nightmarish reality she faced. She awoke with a start to a soft knock on the door. She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Come in."

She was surprised when she saw the one-eyed man open the door slowly and move into the room hesitantly. There was a moment of awkward silence as they both looked at each other.

"I thought I would make sure you were okay."

Cassie's first instinct was to tell the man to go away, but she saw the concerned look on his face, "Thanks…its…its been a lot to take in and deal with."

Xander could easily tell that the Lieutenant had been crying and he nodded in sympathy, "We didn't get properly introduced. My name is Xander…Xander Harris."

"Cassidy Evans… Xander that's a different name."

Xander got a bit of a sheepish look on his face, "It's short for Alexander, but I prefer Xander…everyone calls me that."

Xander saw the woman get a small smile on her face and he smiled in return.

"You're the one that got me down from the tree?"

Xander suddenly felt a little awkward and self-conscious, "Yeah…you looked like you could use a little help." he said with a slight sarcastic tone.

His smile got bigger as the woman laughed at his answer.

"Thanks for getting me down and for helping me."

"It was the least we could do and besides we couldn't leave you dangling in the trees…it's not good for the environment."

The woman laughed again, but then suddenly she sighed and a sad look came to her face.

"Are you sure you going to be okay Cassidy? If you want—"

"Cassie"

"Huh?" Xander said as he was caught off-guard

"Cassie…you can call me Cassie. All my friends call me Cassie and I think you've earned that for getting me down from a tree and catching me before I fell down those stairs." she said with a faint smile on her face.

Xander smiled, "You needed help and I was there."

There was another awkward pause as each of them were lost in their own thoughts.

"Cassie…if you want to talk or just want some company…I've been told I'm a good listener. I think it's cool that you're a fighter pilot… I would like to hear about you…I mean I would like to hear about what you've seen and done."

Cassie was feeling a little confused. A part of her wanted to be left alone, but here was Xander and he appeared to be genuine and honest and she suddenly didn't want to feel alone. She proceeded to tell him about the battle and what had happened — at least what she could recall. She saw the look on his face that hovered between mesmerized and disbelief. She then went off and talked about her worries and family and she could feel the tears and despair start to wash over her again, but she was surprised when Xander took a hold of her hand and held it gently.

"You're alive right now…that's all that matters. You at least have a chance and who knows maybe you'll find a way to send a message or get home." Xander said quietly with a small smile as he held her hand to support her.

Cassie got a smirk and actually started to feel a little bit better, "Yeah…you're right. Besides I'm on Earth and at least there's no threat from the Invid…how worse could it get."

She was surprised as Xander's expression suddenly changed and he got a slightly pained and worried look on his face, "Yeah…about things getting worse…" he started to say awkwardly almost sounding embarrassed, "…there's something that I need tell you about Sunnydale and our situation here."

**oOoOo**

Captain Coleiro entered the conference room and the people sitting around the table immediately stood to attention. He quickly waved them at ease and to sit down. Normally there would have been more people in the conference room — each representing their respective ship's departments — but then these were not normal times and they had roughly a quarter of their normal crew complement.

Coleiro settled down into his chair and looked at his command staff — for better or for worse — as they settled into their chairs. He could see that some of his staff were uncomfortable in their new roles from their nervous looks and their fidgeting in their seats.

_We didn't ask to be here or for these new jobs, but we deal with the hand we're dealt with_, he thought as he had a fleeting image of Commodore Lau and wished that she was here to be in charge. The Captain pushed those thoughts and any doubts aside, for the moment, and looked at Lieutenant Hanson.

"Report."

"Sir…we've moved our position. We're holding a geostationary orbit around the moon. As you ordered, we're minimizing our exposure to the Earth side, but enough that allows us to capture signal broadcasts and observe the planet." Hanson reported.

"Latest status on recovery operations?"

"Shuttle crews are working hard to locate and recover those Shadow Drones. The debris field that got caught up with us is huge and is either drifting further out into space, caught in the moon's orbit or the moon's gravitational field has already caused a lot of the debris to crash on the surface."

Coleiro sighed as he understood the problems that the recovery crews faced, "Tell the crews to keep working hard…we need those drones, but I don't want them taking any stupid risks… Understood."

"Yes, sir!"

Coleiro then turned to his Chief Engineering Officer, "Commander Schmidt…what's the status on our power systems?"

"Sir…the Reflex furnace has been stabilized and brought back to full operation. We're still checking our power distribution grid, but those areas that aren't still damaged should have full power restored within two hours."

"Excellent…what about our engines?"

"Main Engine number two suffered heavy damage from the battle…it will need a shipyard to repair…"

Coleiro got a grim look on his face at this news.

"…but all other engines are back on-line and we have full use of all our maneuvering and secondary thrusters. We can give you about eighty percent of normal speed."

"Good…what about the space-fold system?"

Commander Schmidt let out a sigh, "That's a bit trickier…we have full power going to the system and system checks appear to be giving us green lights…"

Coleiro picked up that something was troubling his Chief Engineer, "What's the problem?"

"Sir…we are getting some minor power fluctuations…almost like a feedback when we run through the tests."

"Can we execute a space-fold, Commander?"

"We can execute a fold if there was an emergency, but I would like more time to run more diagnostics and find out what the problem is…if there is one."

"How long?"

Schmidt sighed again, "A couple of days at least…the more time I get the more comfortable I would feel about the system."

Coleiro let out his own sigh, but he was of the same feeling that he didn't want to make a space-fold with a problematic system, "Understood Commander…get that system working. For now we'll only execute a fold only if we're forced too."

The Captain looked at the officer in charge of damage control and repairs, "Status report."

"Sir…most of the major battle damage has been repaired that we can do without a shipyard. We still have some minor hull damage and breaches we're working on, but they should all be sealed and repaired within the next 72 hours."

"Weapons, sensors and communications?"

"All weapons are back on-line, except for turret number two, she'll require a shipyard to replace. The pin-point barrier system is still undergoing repairs…that will be at least a week. Missile systems are fully functional, but we are running low on anti-ship missiles. Sensors are still limited, but they are slowly being restored…Hyperspace communications are still out, but we have restored all ship-board com systems and short-range systems."

"Thank you… What's our supply situation?"

"Sir…with our reduced crew complement we have enough food for two years…maybe three without resupply. Water recycling systems are functioning normally. The hydroponic sections…those crops were killed off, but we can begin replanting and should be able to have fresh food in a few weeks." the designated supply officer responded.

"What about our ships and ammo supplies?"

It was Lieutenant Hanson that spoke this time, "Sir…most of our fighters had been deployed against the Invid, but we did have a number of spare fighters in reserve. We currently have 39 Alpha fighters and 17 Beta fighters. Weapons for those planes won't be a problem as we have more than enough ordnance to supply them. We have our full complement of recon, Elint and AWACS craft. We do have the majority of our shuttles…those that we were able to recover. We also have 3 Horizont transports with accompanying cargo pods."

"Ground mecha?"

"Besides our standard complement of Cyclones, we have only a small number of ground assault mecha…a mix of Excalibers, Raiders, Spartans and Gladiators along with support vehicles. Our task force had only been configured for space operations to locate Invid bases. We weren't outfitted to conduct major ground operations."

"So we have fighters, but no pilots for those ships besides myself." Coleiro said out loud as he thought over the situation.

"Yes, sir." replied Hanson.

"How many shuttle pilots do we have?"

"Thirty-Six…I believe, sir."

"I want them and anyone else on the crew that has applied for Veritechs…hell I want anyone that has even thought about flying a Veritech to start familiarizing themselves with the controls and start spending some time in the simulators. I'll put together a training program to sort out the best and we'll go from there… Any questions?"

A chorus of "No, sirs." echoed in the conference room.

"Now that business is out of the way…it's time to discuss our current situation." Coleiro said. He couldn't help but see the looks of confusion and worry among his staff.

He looked at Lieutenant Hanson, "What do we know about the planet?"

"Not much more than what we were able to get in our initial sweeps, but we are getting more information as our sensors are restored. This planet appears to be Earth…the land masses, the constellations and languages seem to match what we had in our databases. We have checked and reconfirmed the date from different sources and they are telling us that it is May 6th, 2003."

"You've checked for Macross Island and the SDF-1?"

"We're limited with our sensors being down, but visual scans of the area indicate no population centers and no SDF-1 on any of the islands in the area where we know from our own history that the SDF-1 landed." Hanson replied.

One of the other officers spoke up, "Could the SDF-1 be at a different location or being hidden?"

Hanson turned to face the questioner, "Doubtful…from radio and video broadcasts that we have been monitoring there have been no references to SDF-1 or any other alien craft that may have landed on the planet… Plus from those same broadcasts, we have discovered 'differences' between this planet and what we know of our Earth's history."

This news started the command staff to talking amongst themselves. Coleiro watched as his crew tried to deal with what had been forced on to them.

"What are some of those differences?" Coleiro asked bringing the meeting back into order.

"From what we can tell, sir…there is no UEG. There is no central government…just a collection of individual nation-states with some formed up into blocs or alliances."

"Any indications that we have been detected?"

"Public broadcasts do mention an event being observed in the area that would coincide with our arrival, but the majority of the reports are classifying it as a natural event…a meteor crashing into the moon. We have picked up an increase in some encrypted military traffic…we're still working to crack those codes. Our threat-detection warning systems detected the ship being scanned by RADAR systems, but our hull surface absorbed most of the waves and we think that we kept a low signature profile and didn't give back a hard return. The only problem would be with optical systems…if they were looking in our direction…" Lieutenant Hanson said with a grim look on his face.

"Yeah…the _Arcadia_ isn't something that couldn't be easily missed."

One of the officers spoke up, "Sir…what're we going to do?"

Coleiro sighed again and looked at Commander Schmidt, "Commander…have you had a chance to look at the data from the space-fold."

Schmidt shook his head slowly, "Sir…there's piles of data that we're still sorting through, but we have nothing definite…just theories."

So Commander…what are these theories?"

"Even with our current level of knowledge, we're only scratching the surface of understanding space-fold mechanics and theory…we do know that it is inter-related with Temporal Mechanics, the Theory of General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. There was a theory from before the Global Civil War that was called the 'Many Worlds Theory'. Basically the theory implies that all possible alternate histories and futures are real, there is a very large…some say infinite number of universes, and everything that could possibly have happened in our universe, but did not, has occurred in some other universe or universes."

Coleiro's eyes widened at the implications of the Commander's theories, "So you're saying we're in an alternate universe?"

Schmidt shook his head with a grim look on his face, "Sir, this is only a theory, but on the surface it would seem to be the most logical assumption at this point. We're only theorizing that when the space-fold engines started to destabilize they opened a temporal rift and we moved not only in space, but in time as well."

"Is there any way to open another rift for us to get home?"

"We just don't know, sir…the power and frequency of the alien weapon that affected our engines at the same time as we were attempting to make a space-fold may have been a one-in-a-million occurrence and we may never be able to replicate the conditions that brought us here."

The Commander's words hung over the conference room like a storm cloud. Silence engulfed the room as everyone tried to deal with the realization that they may never get home.

Coleiro finally broke the silence, "So ladies and gentlemen…the million dollar question is what are we going to do?"

There were uncomfortable looks exchanged between the officers and finally one junior officer spoke up, "Sir, we still have our duty and oath to Earth. We should make contact with Earth and offer our services."

The Captain considered what the junior officer had said. He'd actually been having the same thoughts for the last several days and weighing out the pros and cons, "On the surface I would agree with your suggestion, but the question becomes…who do we contact? We're dealing with a planet with no central government or authority. We do know that the planet has a large military capacity and some of those nation-states have nuclear capability. We contact the wrong group, we could precipitate a war…"

Another junior stood up excitedly temporarily forgetting where they were, "But sir… What about the threat from the Zentraedi…the Robotech Masters and the Invid! We can't leave the Earth defenseless!"

Coleiro didn't reprimand the junior officer as he understood the feelings in play, "There's no SDF-1 here… How do we know that the Invid let alone the Zentraeid or Robotech Masters even exist in this 'alternate reality'?"

The Captain paused to let his words sink in and then he continued.

"Besides…we only have a finite supply of protoculture canisters and we have no protoculture matrix to make more and we have no production capability. We only have what we gots with us." Coleiro said with a grim smile.

"Sir, we still have a lot of knowledge and technology we could offer Earth." another officer offered up.

"Yes we do, but again…who do we offer it to? Remember that we'll still be considered at best as strangers…at worse as aliens."

The room got quiet again. After a few moments another officer stood up.

"Yes Ensign."

"Sir…we could go home. We could go to where Tirol is. Most of us were born there and have never seen Earth before now. We have enough supplies and equipment to start our own colony."

"Ensign…I've actually been giving that idea some thought." the Captain said getting gasps from a number of officers in the room.

"Hear me out… I think our first duty is to protect Earth and the human race…whether it is ours or this one. We should determine if there is a threat from any of the races that we have fought. I believe we should, once our fold engines have passed all checks, make a fold back into the Local Group. We won't go directly to Tirol…if the Robotech Masters exist here, the last thing we want to do is show up on their doorstep. We have the intel files in our data records on the size and extent of their empire. We use that information to fold to a sparsely used area of space and determine the threat. We can then perform another fold and move further in…"

Coleiro could see that he had everyone's attention and some of the officers were nodding in agreement.

"…If we determine that there's no threat, we can then decide whether to return to Earth or find a suitable planet to establish a colony on. We have to remember that our reflex furnace will eventually exhaust itself and unless we can find another form of power to use with our fold engines…we will be stranded in that area of space. If we do find that there is a threat, we'll gather as much intel as we can and return to Earth and help mount a defense."

Coleiro saw more nods of agreement among his staff. He noticed a few looks of disagreement and doubt, but then he was the Captain and the final word was his.

"Does anyone have any other suggestions or ideas at this time?" he asked.

The room was quiet and no one spoke up to his question.

"Everyone…this plan is not set in stone. We're dealing with a unique and fluid situation. We still have to wait until we get the green light on our fold engines," Coleiro nodded towards Commander Schmidt, "We still have repairs and recovery efforts underway and we won't make any hasty decisions unless the situation forces us to…is that understood?"

The Captain was answered with a chorus of "Yes, sirs!"


	7. What now?

**CHAPTER SEVEN:**

**What now?**

The room stood to attention as the Secretary of Defense entered the room. The assembled group of senior officers from all branches of the United States Armed Forces waited until the SECDEF sat down at the end of the conference room table and they quickly followed suit.

The SECDEF was an experienced politician and usually showed no emotion or gave any hint to his true inner feelings and emotions, but today was different and the assembled officers thought they could detect a hint of fear and apprehension in his face and demeanor.

"What's the latest?" the SECDEF asked as he tried to push his fears and worries aside for the moment and focus on the matter at hand.

A senior Air Force General stood up and moved to the other end of the table where a projection screen was setup. He nodded to one of the technicians and a photograph of the moon appeared on the screen.

"Five days ago at 0242 Zulu Time, a huge gravitational disturbance occurred near the moon's southern polar region. There was an accompanying bright light that was easily seen on Earth…"

The SECDEF nodded as he'd been one of the many that had seen the bright flash in the night sky. Some of those that were more superstitious had taken the flash to be a bad omen — heralding the end of the world. The SECDEF was a rational man, but with the information he now knew, it made him wonder if those old superstitions didn't have some basis in fact.

The Air Force General continued his briefing, "…The event had little discernible impact on the planet, other than on the ocean tides. At first it was thought that a meteor or comet had struck the moon, but we had a fortunate break as one of our observatories in Hawaii happened to have their telescope pointed in the general area at the time of the event and managed to take some photos…"

The General nodded and the photo of the moon was replaced with another photo of the moon, but of a more specific area. At first glance there appeared to be nothing, but the General nodded again and the photo changed to a more enhanced close-up of an area around the moon. The photo showed a speck that appeared next to the moon. The General nodded once again and the photo was replaced with an enhanced blown up photo of the speck. It was larger, but appeared blurry with no greater detail other than indicating that there was something there.

"What is it?"

"Unknown at this time. NASA and JPL tried scanning the object with radar and LIDAR to determine its size and composition as they thought it was a meteor or remnants of whatever hit the moon. For an object its size it seemed to absorb most of the radar waves and we only got back a faint signal."

"How big is it?" asked the SECDEF.

"From photo analysis, we are estimating the size of the object to be over a half-mile in length."

The SECDEF shook his head as his mind tried to visualize what could be out there, "What is your threat assessment gentlemen?"

A four-star Army General spoke up this time, "We have no idea what or who it is. Whatever it is has moved and we can't see it or locate it as of this moment, but what has us also concerned is that a large debris field is in the vicinity of where the disturbance took place and we are detecting movement in that field…"

The SECDEF gave the four-star General a hard look, "Could it be just the debris drifting and moving that you're detecting."

"No, sir. We've been measuring the size and composition of the field and getting measurements of differing sizes. Our best long range cameras have been monitoring the field and they are definitely detecting movement in the field that is different from the other drifting debris."

"Are they able to see what it is?"

"Unfortunately no, sir. At these distances, the images are too blurry and distorted to provide much detail, other than the objects moving in the field are bigger than a school bus."

"Has there been any attempt to communicate with the object to see if it responds?"

"NASA was going to attempt beaming a radio transmission directly at the object, but we lost sight of it before they could make the attempt. They have asked to do a wide-beam radio broadcast to help determine if the object is natural or…an Extra-Terrestrial."

The SECDEF sat there for a moment feeling stunned as he dealt with the idea that they were actually talking about the possibility of aliens. He wasn't that closed-minded because being SECDEF he was privy to a lot of information about threats to the country and humanity that gave him regular nightmares and sleepless nights, but those had been of a more earthly origin. This situation was something completely different and out of the ordinary and out of his experience.

"What are your recommendations?"

"We want to have NASA hold off on their transmissions. Those signals would be broadcasted on open frequencies and that could start a lot of questions being asked and lead to panic among the population. We want to quietly raise our defense condition to DEFCON 3 and implement posture _ROUND HOUSE_ until we can get more information and determine if there is a real threat or not."

"That's a serious request you're asking, General."

"Yes, sir but we believe it's the most prudent one to take at this time until we can sort out the situation."

The SECDEF took another moment to consider the request.

"Okay gentlemen, you have my approval to go to DEFCON 3 and put the Air Force on alert…but I want it kept quiet. I don't want to see leaks or unauthorized personnel being quoted on CNN or MSNBC. I want to brief the President within the hour as he'll have to be prepared to go public in the event of things getting out of hand."

The officers stood up as the SECDEF stood up to leave the meeting. He paused for a moment and looked at the assembled officers, "Gentlemen…I want you to find out what the hell that thing is out there and what's it doing," he said in a hard tone as he started to leave.

He was answered with a chorus of "Yes, sir." as he left the room.

**oOoOo**

As sensitive military issues were being discussed in Washington, Cassie stood in the shower letting the hot water soak her head and body. She didn't move as she felt the water run down her face and the rest of her body. The water felt real which was in stark contrast to the situation and world she found herself stuck in. Her mind was still trying to digest everything that Xander had told her and at first she'd thought he'd been pulling a joke on her, but she saw the serious look on his face and her only other alternative, other than accepting his word, was that everyone here was completely insane.

_Vampires… Demons… What kind of nightmare world have I fallen into?_ Cassie thought as she continued to let the hot water soak her. She finally refocused as she could feel the water start to go cold and she quickly finished rinsing and turned off the water. As she dried herself she found herself staring into the mirror. The gash in her head was healing and her hair hid the worst of it. She picked up her uniform and for a moment debated about putting it back on, but it was starting to smell a little gamey and needed to be washed.

Cassie headed back to the bedroom just wearing the towel wrapped around her, she passed a number of Potentials in the hall eliciting a few stares at her lack of wardrobe. Cassie didn't notice, she was used to sharing quarters in a barracks setting and there wasn't much that she hadn't seen either on purpose or by accident. She was almost back at the bedroom when she saw Willow, Dawn and another Potential leaving one of the other rooms.

"Willow…Dawn." Cassie said in a voice loud enough to catch their attention.

The other three women turned around. Cassie didn't notice the looks on their faces as they were greeted by her just wearing a towel that wasn't leaving much to the imagination.

Dawn was the first to recover, "Uh…hey. What's up?"

"Yeah…I was wondering if you got some clothes that I can borrow…at least until I can wash and clean mine."

Dawn nodded with a smile, "Sure…we should be able to scrounge something up. Do you know what size you are?"

Before Cassie could say anything the other woman spoke up, "She looks to be Faith's size, I would check with her."

"Kennedy…how would you know what size she is?" Willow asked as she saw her look Cassie up and down.

Kennedy had a smirk on her face, "You know me Will…I have a thing for women's sizes."

Dawn had to stifle a laugh as she picked up on Kennedy's meaning and saw a slight confused look on Cassie's face, "Don't worry about it Cassidy," she said taking the uniform and getting a slightly cringed look as she caught a whiff of it, "We'll find something for you."

"Uhh…Thanks." Cassie said feeling a little left out of the conversation as she headed into the bedroom.

She waited in the room and time seemed to drag by and as it did, she started to feel a little self-conscious, _I'm stuck on a planet…no hope of getting home or rescue and I'm only wearing a towel…not something that was covered in survival training._

She was shaken from her thoughts and brought back to the moment by a knock at the door.

"Come in."

The door opened and the brunette, that had been guarding her when she woke up, came in carrying some clothes.

"Uhh…" Cassie said trying to remember the brunette's name.

"Faith…the name's Faith."

"Yeah…sorry."

"No sweat. I hear you're looking for a change of clothes." Faith said as she placed the clothes on the end of the bed.

"Yeah…even though this isn't my planet, I don't think I can go around dressed like this." Cassie said as she stood up showcasing her lack of clothing.

Faith chuckled, "Yeah…you could end up getting all the right and wrong attention. Poor old Xander would probably blow out his good eye if he saw you walking around like that."

For some reason Cassie found herself blushing at the thought of Xander seeing her wearing only a towel.

Faith saw that she'd made the other woman blush, "Yeah…well here are some old clothes of mine. Sort of grew out of the style…never had too many good memories wearing them…hope they fit." she said as she turned to leave.

"Faith?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you stay…I want to ask you a few questions."

"You sure you don't want some privacy…some people are a little squeamish about changing in front of others."

"Nah…being on ship and in a barracks sort of kills off the expectation of privacy." Cassie said as she grabbed the clothes and turned her back and dropped the towel to start changing.

"I know what you mean."

Cassie's eyes perked up, "You were in the military?"

"Nah…prison, but same thing." Faith said with a shrug.

Cassie found herself speechless.

Faith shrugged seeing she'd put the woman off balance. She grabbed a chair in the corner and sat down, "Go ahead and shoot."

"Huh?"

"What's your questions."

"Yeah…ummm, Xander explained to me about the vampires, the demons and the Hellmouth…" as the words left Cassie's mouth she felt silly saying them, but it was the reality here, "…he told me that you and Buffy were…are Slayers."

"Yup…that's us, the chosen ones." Faith said with a sarcastic tone in her voice.

Cassie asked a few more questions about vampires and Sunnydale, while she dressed. Faith did her best to answer them.

"I was wondering…how did Xander lose his eye?" Cassie asked with the concern obvious in her voice.

"Buffy lead everyone to attack this Caleb fella down at the Vineyard…" Faith paused she'd been knocked out during the struggle and missed the actual moment, but she still felt the revulsion build in her stomach, "...that bastard Caleb gouged out Xander's eye with his thumb."

Cassie gulped as she'd never heard of anyone doing that before and she felt a wave of revulsion along with some anger which surprised her. She found herself wishing that she'd been able to bring her Alpha down in one piece. She would've loved to show that Caleb and those vampires what Robotechnology was.

There was a moment of awkward silence. Faith finally broke it, "Since we're sharing Cassidy, do ya mind if I ask you a couple of questions?"

Cassie laughed, "Yeah go ahead…and since we're sharing, call me Cassie."

Faith smiled, "Okay…Cassie. So you're like for real a fighter pilot and flew in space?"

Cassie smiled shaking her head, "Yeah I did that…at least I did that until I crashed here."

"You said earlier that you guys were fighting against some other aliens…called Insects."

Cassie laughed and saw Faith frown and immediately felt bad, "Sorry…they're called Invid and you're not too far off…think giant slugs."

"Ewww…you're kidding, right?" Faith said in a surprised voice.

"Nope…and trust me if you ever see an Invid you'll never forget…if you survive." Cassie said shaking her head.

There was another pause and Cassie could see Faith had another question.

"What is it?" Cassie asked.

"You been in many fights against these…Invid?"

Cassie sighed, "It was my first battle…and probably my last."

"Did you kill any of them?"

Cassie sighed and paused to think about the question. She had been proud of her action in the battle, but now looking back she realized that every kill had been a life that she'd ended. She didn't feel guilty about her kills, as the Invid would have been more than happy to have killed her. She just didn't know how she felt. The only way she could describe it was that she felt numb about the whole experience.

"Yeah…I killed some." Cassie said in a quiet voice.

Faith saw that her question had hit a sensitive spot, "Sorry."

Cassie shook her head, "Don't worry about it. If I hadn't killed them, they would have killed me."

Faith decided to change the subject as she could see a part of her reflected in Cassie and old feelings were starting to come back, "How old are you if you don't mind me asking?"

"Just turned nineteen five months ago."

Faith's eyes widened in shock, "You're nineteen and you're an officer and flying fighters…in space!"

Cassie laughed, "Yeah. I entered the academy when I was fifteen…started flight training when I was seventeen."

Faith shook her head in amazement, "God…you guys like to take them young. You almost sound like Slayers."

Cassie shrugged and decided to change the topic, "So how do I look? Can I pass for a native?" she asked with a laugh holding her hands out and turning around to show off the clothes she was wearing.

Faith looked Cassie up and down, "Not bad…not bad at all. You look five by five and the hair just adds to the look."

"Thanks." Cassie said with a smile.

**oOoOo**

Xander was sitting at the dining room table with the rest of the Scoobies and Buffy. They were discussing possible plans of how to deal with Caleb, but he'd proven himself so much stronger than Buffy that they were running around in circles in their discussions of what to do.

Xander appeared to be listening as Buffy and Giles argued about strategy, but he found his mind and imagination wandering. He'd overheard Dawn and Willow along with some of the Potentials talking about how Cassie was walking around wearing only a towel and he found himself of two minds. One part of his mind was berating himself for not being around to see her in that condition while the other part said it wouldn't have been gentlemanly of him to have seen her in that way. He remembered how Cassie's uniform hugged her body and he found that the first voice was easily winning the battle. He was brought out of his daydreaming when he heard a voice.

"Can we join you?"

Xander had his back to the voice, but he recognized it was Faith. He turned nonchalantly and his mouth almost fell to the ground. Standing next Faith was Cassie and she was dressed to kill. Xander couldn't help it as his eye ran up and down her. She was wearing a pair of Faith's old black leather pants and a short tight white tank top. He'd thought that her uniform had complemented her figure, but it was a burlap sack compared to what she was wearing now. If it hadn't been for Cassie's purple hair, she could have passed as a slightly younger relative — maybe even a sister — of Faith's.

Faith saw the looks on everyone in the room — especially Xander — and she smirked knowing that her work was done. She moved to sit down at the table and Cassie followed suit.

Giles took a moment to refocus himself as he'd been surprised in the change in appearance of their guest. Even with the purple hair, she would have no problem fitting in, but in her current attire she would definitely attract attention, especially if gauging from Xander's reaction.

"So what're we discussing?" Faith asked still smirking as she could see how distracted Xander was.

Buffy shook her head, "We were discussing how we're going to confront Caleb. I think that we should take the battle back to the Vineyard and confront him there."

Xander managed to push away thoughts of Cassie as he heard Buffy, "If you're asking for a vote? Then I vote no! Our last frontal assault didn't go so well!"

"We can't stop now! We have to keep going back! There's something important going on there!" Buffy said in an excited voice.

Giles shook his head, "I don't doubt that there is something important there, but we need to know more before we go rushing in!"

Cassie sat there watching the discussion break down into an argument. She found the situation completely foreign to her and after a moment she found herself not being able to take anymore.

"Can I make a suggestion." she said in a firm voice which caught everyone by surprise.

"Go ahead Leftenant Evans." Giles said with a relieved voice at the interruption in their ongoing argument.

"Thank you…and you might as well call me Cassie. My officer's commission is pretty much useless on this planet."

Cassie paused as she looked around the room. She didn't know everyone that well. But she saw the looks on faces that indicated that these people had been in combat before and could handle themselves.

"So we don't know what the importance of this Vineyard is and what forces we'll be facing. I suggest we do a reconnaissance in force."

Cassie immediately saw puzzled looks on faces and she let out a little sigh.

"What's that?" Willow asked.

"It's where we send in a small heavily armed force to probe the enemy's position. We try and draw the enemy out and find out what we're facing and maybe find out what's so important about the position. If we provoke a strong reaction from the enemy, we then fallback and regroup." Cassie explained as she recalled her academy training, but keeping the language simple and easy to understand.

"I like that plan!" Xander exclaimed causing Cassie to smile.

"Okay, so let's say that we do this 'in force' stuff. How would we go about it?" Buffy said crossing her arms looking at Cassie.

Cassie wasn't that easily intimidated, not after having Dana Sterling yell at her, "First thing…what kind of weapons do we have available?"

Cassie's eyes went wide in shock as she heard what weapons the group had stockpiled.

"You don't have any guns or explosives?" she said shaking her head in disbelief.

It was Buffy's turn to shake her head, "Guns aren't that useful against vampires."

"Maybe you haven't found the right or big enough gun to use against them…plus from what you've told me about these vampires, explosives and napalm would seem to be pretty useful against them." Cassie said in a voice indicating she wasn't going to back down.

"You mean like a flamethrower!" Faith said with a smirk.

Cassie returned the smirk, "Yeah something like that."

"Oh…I love where you're going with this!" Xander added with his own smirk.

"Hold on everyone! We can't going around blowing or burning up everything?" Buffy said trying to get control back.

"Why not?" Cassie asked in a matter of fact tone.

"Well…we…we…just can't. Giles help me out here?" Buffy asked looking towards Giles.

"Umm…I appreciate your…umm…enthusiasm Leften...I mean Cassie, but I don't think we want to attract attention by blowing up things or setting them on fire." Giles explained.

"From the way I hear it, you're at war. This is no time for half measures especially with what's at stake! While we're discussing weapons, where's my survival kit? It should have been attached to my chute when I came down."

"I'll get it!" Dawn said quickly running from the dining room. It was only moments when she returned and placed the case in the middle of the table. Cassie stood and opened the case. She retrieved a strange looking device that fit in her hand. It was the item that Faith and Andrew had described as a blaster when they had first seen it.

"Is that a ray gun?" Faith asked.

Cassie got a small smirk as she recalled what her drill instructors had hammered into her.

"This is the Gallant H-90 particle beam gun…this is standard issue for all REF personnel and comes in two modes. This is the weapon in its side-arm mode…it can fire twenty-four anti-personnel shots per clip or…" Cassie pulled out some pieces of equipment out of her case and attached them to the weapon. She added what looked like a round barrel and a rifle stock to each end, "…or forty-eight shots per clip in rifle mode."

"I don't know how useful—" Buffy started to say.

"This weapon is designed to burn through Invid mecha armor, which I think is a lot thicker and stronger than the skin of those vampires." Cassie said interrupting Buffy without batting an eye.

"That's all well and good, but you've never faced a vampire before." Buffy replied testily.

Cassie didn't back down, "A standard Invid Shock Trooper is nearly 17 feet tall and weighs in at 10 tons, plus the recon will give me an opportunity to test my Gallant and measure its effectiveness against these vampires." She said as she took off the weapon's attachments to return it back to side-arm mode.

Everyone's eyes went wide at Cassie's description of some of the creatures that she had to fight against.

Buffy tried to stare down Cassie, but she saw the determination in the younger woman's face. They held each other's gaze for a long moment. Buffy couldn't help herself as she broke into a smile and started shaking her head.

"Okay…Okay…we'll give your plan a chance. I guess I shouldn't knock it…after all I did use a rocket launcher to blow up the Judge in the mall."


	8. Best laid plans of

**CHAPTER EIGHT:**

**Best laid plans of…**

Buffy was standing on the back steps, watching as the sun began its slow descent for another day. She felt a slight chill, but it wasn't the weather that chilled her. She knew that _they_ were waiting out there for her — for all of them. She could feel the call inside her, with the sun going down she wanted to go out and patrol — she wanted to hunt them, but it was different now. Caleb had taken her best shots and laughed them off. She hadn't felt this helpless since facing off against Glory and Caleb wasn't anywhere as erratic as Glory had been.

Buffy heard the back door open. She didn't turn as she heard the familiar footsteps approach.

Giles stood beside Buffy looking at the setting sun. He took his glasses off and cleaned them as they stood there quietly beside each other. Thoughts raced through his head. He knew that she wasn't happy with the plan that Cassie had offered up. He loved and worried about Buffy as if she was his own daughter and normally he would have trusted her implicitly on her decisions, but their last attack on the Vineyard had left two dead Potentials, another injured and poor Xander losing an eye. He knew that Buffy was upset over the losses and she would have gone to face their adversaries by herself, but the Turok-Hans, Caleb and The First weren't your normal vampires or demons. Giles found it hard some days to maintain his spirits as he couldn't see any way of them winning.

_Maybe with Leftenant Evans's help, we might be able to do some damage, but she's just one person…_

Giles let out a sigh, "Buffy, I know you're still not happy with Cassie's plan, but I think we should give it a try."

Buffy let out her own sigh, "I already agreed to try out her plan, but for the record I don't agree with it. She has no experience fighting vampires."

"That may be, but her idea of going in during the day so we have the sun for cover if we have to fallback is pretty sound."

"Yeah…that was a pretty good idea." Buffy grudgingly admitted.

"Buffy…I had a chance to sit down and talk to the Leftenant and ask her about her world…her Earth. It was quite insightful."

Buffy turned to face Giles. She actually was kind of curious about Cassie's world.

A wistful thought crossed her mind, _A world without demons or vampires…it sounds peaceful._

Giles cleared his throat as he recalled the details that Cassie had told him, "It appears that back in 1999, in Cassie's reality, an alien ship crash landed on Earth. The planet was in the midst of war and the arrival of aliens stopped the fighting and brought the population together as they used the technology they recovered to rebuild the ship. I found it a little confusing as there appears to be a number of different players involved, but the owners of the ship sent their soldiers…called the Zentraedi to recover the ship. I won't get into the gritty details, but in the end humanity won, but over 75% of the planet was destroyed."

Buffy's eyes widen and her mouth hung open in shock at hearing that three quarters of the planet was destroyed. She'd faced off against apocalypses before and she'd known what the stakes were, but to hear that millions…billions had died still shook her.

"From the description that Cassie provided, these Zentraedi looked human…well as human as you could be for someone fifty feet tall."

"Fifty feet…you did say fifty foot tall aliens!" Buffy exclaimed.

Giles nodded, "It appears that these Zentraedi were the foot soldiers for their true masters. Cassie called them the Robotech Masters…they eventually made their way to Earth and a second devastating war was fought. Again humanity won…"

"Go human race!" Buffy said with a smirk.

"Yes…quite. In this second war it appeared that it was more of a pyrrhic victory for the human race as Earth was invaded and conquered this time by a third alien race..."

"That would be the Invid that Cassie mentioned." Buffy said as she found herself absorbed as Giles told the story.

"Yes."

"She grew up in all that?" Buffy said shaking her head in amazement.

"No quite the opposite…she was born on a planet called Tirol. Between the first two wars, the humans sent an expeditionary force to either make peace or take the battle to their enemy's doorstep. This force liberated Tirol and established themselves in another part of the galaxy."

"Expeditionary force? That would be that REF stuff that Cassie mentioned." Buffy said.

Giles got a small smile on his face at Buffy being so observant, "Yes…she called it the Robotech Expeditionary Force."

"Okay…I understand the force stuff, but what the hell is Robotech?" Buffy asked curiously.

Giles shrugged, "Willow and Cassie were discussing some of her technology. I'm afraid that it was a little over my head," he said a little sheepishly, "Though I must say that Willow was quite excited about the details Cassie was sharing with her."

He watched as Buffy got a small smile on her face and shook her head slowly in amazement. She could easily imagine what kind of nerd heaven Willow was in. She turned back to watch the setting sun. Giles did the same, but his mind replayed some of the words that came up when Willow and Cassie were talking.

_I wonder what Protoculture is?_ he thought as he stood beside Buffy and watched the sun set.

**oOoOo**

Cassie was sitting on the front step. She let out a sigh as she saw the shadows were starting to cover more area as the sun sank lower. Her mind raced with thoughts and plans, she'd managed to convince the group to do a recon on the Vineyard. She was still debating and trying to decide of how big of a group to take in and who would be in it. Cassie knew that she would be in it and she thought of including both Buffy and Faith, but she didn't want to put all their key people in the recon group in case things went bad. Her decision to go in during the day also meant that Spike was out of the mix with him being a vampire. Cassie had been surprised and alarmed to find out that Spike was an actual vampire and was in the house. It had been explained that he had a soul and was fighting on their side, but she was still apprehensive even after overhearing some of the other people talk about how Spike and Buffy were involved.

Her thoughts drifted to Xander and she found herself thinking about him. He had experience fighting what they would be facing, but his one eye could be an issue — this was only a recon not a full on battle. She found that she didn't want to have to worry about him. She recalled everything that she'd had drilled into her by her academy and training instructors and she tried to find the best approach. She wanted to come up with the perfect plan, but then she heard a voice in the back of her head reminding her that no battle plan survives contact with the enemy.

She finally decided who would go in with her. There would be Buffy, the former school principal — Robin, and a couple of the girls that Buffy and the others called Potentials. She also planned to have a second group outside in support that would have Faith, Xander and other Potentials. If things went bad they would try and provide cover for her group to fallback. Cassie also planned for this group to have some good old gasoline bombs to torch the place.

_If this Vineyard is important to our enemy…we'll just have to deny it to them_, she thought trying to see if she'd missed anything.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard someone come out the front door, she turned and a smile came to her face as she saw Xander standing there.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked with a sheepish grin.

Cassie shook her head, "No, please."

Xander's grin got bigger at the invitation and he sat down on the steps beside Cassie.

**oOoOo**

Inside the house, Anya watched through the living room window. She saw Xander and that alien — Cassie — talking on the front step. She didn't have a happy look on her face as she could hear the two of them exchanging small talk and the alien would occasionally laugh at one of Xander's jokes. She'd seen how _her_ Xander looked at the alien, who apparently had gotten "dress as a slut" style tips from Faith. More dark thoughts went through Anya's mind as she recalled how Faith had been Xander's first sexual partner and this alien was looking a lot like Faith except for the hair color.

_I could dye my hair purple, but they say that blondes have more fun and have better chances finding more sexual partners._

Anya was finding it hard to believe that she was jealous, but she could feel the dark thoughts growing in her. She had thought that she was over Xander after he left her standing at the altar, but in the last few weeks things had been settling into a comfortable routine between them and they had just started having sex again which she was enjoying. They had both told each other that it didn't mean anything, but a little voice in the back of her head kept telling her that they could get back to the way they used to be.

"Don't they look the cute couple…Aud." a deep voice spoke out catching Anya by surprise.

She turned quickly to face the voice and her eyes widened in shock as she saw the huge man, dressed in medieval clothing, standing in the middle of the empty living room.

"Olaf…" she said in a whispered voice.

"Come now Aud…or should I just call you Anya or how about Anyanka? So many names, but then you've lived such a long time."

"You can't be Olaf…I…I turned you into—"

"A troll…yes you did and that witch banished me to another dimension."

"H…how?" Anya said her voice filled with fear and shock.

"Does it really matter?" Olaf said.

Sounds of laughter drifted in from outside.

"It looks like Xander has found himself a new friend…I couldn't help but notice how much she looks like Faith in those clothes. I wonder if he noticed the similarities. Hmmm…makes me wonder how long before she's out of those clothes and sleeping with him. Where will that leave poor old mortal Anya?"

Anya stood there frozen in shock unable to respond or move.

"Yes…poor old Anya is mortal now. What does it feel like after living for so long knowing that you'll die soon…all alone? Must be hard watching Xander pick up with his life and going on without a care in the world or even giving it a thought to how he hurt you."

Anya shook her head repeatedly in denial. Xander and her had talked about their breakup and he'd apologized for it. They were back to being friends now and taking things day by day, but she heard the laughter from outside and she could hear that small voice in her — nagging at her about how men had betrayed her.

"Yes…it must be hard watching him be happy and then there's you. Poor Anya…aging…alone…waiting for death to take you, while she gets to enjoy and take pleasure from Xander. I can almost hear the moans of pleasure." Olaf said taunting her as he made a sad pouty face as he spoke.

Anya finally pushed through her shock, "You're not Olaf! You're the First!"

The image of Olaf smirked, "I guess you're not that dumb for being a blonde, but that still leaves you with your problem of Xander and that purple-haired slut."

"Shut up! Leave me alone!" Anya said loudly as she closed her eyes and put her hands over her ears to try and block out the image and sounds of The First Evil.

"Fine…I just stopped by to provide some advice. If you want to get Xander back, I think you could make that alien disappear."

"GO AWAY!"

The image of Olaf shrugged, "Suit yourself, but I would think that the government would be interested in knowing that there's an alien running around here…they would most definitely want to know that."

Anya stood there shaking her head trying to not listen to The First.

"They could come in and haul her away…put her in a secure place. Hey! Maybe they would do a vivisection on her. That would be quite the sight. Better yet if you're in a rush to get rid of her, just leave the door open tonight…we'll come in and take her. We won't touch anyone else…just her. Quickly and quietly and your problem is all solved." The image of Olaf said still smirking.

Anya pressed her face into her hands trying to push away The First. Images of Cassie being hauled away mixed with images of Xander and Cassie together naked flashed through her mind. As she focused more on the images of Cassie being gone, she felt the beginning of happy feeling at the thought of Xander being hers again.

Anya was brought back to the moment as another voice spoke to her, catching her by surprise.

"Anya? Are you alright?"

Anya pulled her hands away from her face and was greeted by Dawn standing in front of her with a worried look on her face.

"Huh?" Anya said as she tried to compose herself.

"Are you alright? I thought I heard you talking to someone in here." Dawn asked still showing concern.

Anya took a deep breath and managed to get control of herself, but her mind was still flowing with ideas and thoughts, "I'm fine…everything's alright. No problems here."

**oOoOo**

It was early evening and everyone was squeezed into the dining room. Cassie outlined her plan for the next day, who would be involved and what their roles would be. The looks among the group ran the gamut from confused, understanding and then there were those that were not happy — especially Buffy.

Cassie saw the group's looks and expressions and she let out a soft sigh as she had to keep telling herself that even though these people were fighting a war they weren't necessarily military. She decided — somewhat reluctantly — to open the floor to questions.

"Anyone got questions? This is the time to say them." she said using her best officer's tone.

Giles was the first to speak, "I think it's a good plan…I think it will allow us to gather much needed information."

"Oh you would say that Rupert! While everyone is bandying about, I'm stuck in the bloody basement playing tiddlywinks with myself!"

"Thanks…I didn't need that visually imagery." Xander said in a sarcastic tone.

"Sod off mouth breather!"

The room started to degenerate as everyone started talking and arguing amongst themselves.

"ENOUGH!" Cassie said in a loud voice which caught everyone by surprise as they didn't expect that kind of voice out of her.

The room quieted down.

"We're discussing the plan…and if there's anything we've missed or need to adjust for that's what we're here for. Buffy you got something to say?" Cassie said as she looked directly at Buffy.

Buffy had been holding her tongue as she went over the plan in her head. She found herself a little out of sorts as it was usually her that was at the front of the room laying out the plan and breaking up the Xander-Spike exchanges.

"Yeah…I got a couple of points. I don't like it that we're leaving Spike out of this plan and really…gasoline bombs?!"

This started the murmuring up again among the group. Cassie held her hands up, "I understand your concerns."

"That's great that you understand my 'concerns', but leaving out one of our strongest fighters smells of bad planning." Buffy said in a harsh voice.

Cassie took a deep breath to calm herself before replying. As she calmed down she found herself comparing Buffy and Dana Sterling. She wondered who would win in a fight — especially if Dana got angry and her Zentraedi blood got going. She quickly pushed those thoughts aside for the moment.

"It was a trade-off…we could go in at night with Spike, but if things went wrong we would have to fallback in the dark. Under normal circumstances, I would be all for that, but we're dealing with an enemy that moves only at night or in the dark. If things go bad, we've at least got the sun on our side to allow us to get the hell out of there. A bonus is that we may catch the enemy sleeping or unprepared for us during the day. The gas bombs are a last resort if we have to fall back or if we find something that we have to keep out of the enemy's hands. I would rather deny the enemy the use of the Vineyard than have us be stuck in there fighting for our lives. Does that answer your question?"

The room was stunned as they looked between Buffy and Cassie and saw that neither one was backing down. Xander and Willow were more shocked as they'd never seen anyone take Buffy to task for planning — she was the Slayer and always had a plan or a way of dealing with whatever they had to face.

An awkward silence descended on the room, Faith broke the silence.

"Damn…I thought I would never see something like this. Cassie you sure you're not a Slayer or at least a Potential?"

Cassie chuckled breaking the tension and took a deep breath, "Buffy, I know this isn't the 'master battle plan' to end the war. This is just a recon mission to gather intel and see how effective my Gallant is against vampires. Hell I wish I could call in an airstrike or send in some Destroids, but that's not going to happen."

Buffy let out another sigh. She had said that they would give Cassie's plan a try and she had to grudgingly admit that Cassie was trying to minimize their exposure and the casualties they might take. Also Cassie wasn't shying away from the fight and was going into the belly of the beast with them. Buffy just hoped that they wouldn't regret this plan.

"Okay…I said we'll try it your way."

Cassie smiled at Buffy and proceeded to go over the timing and equipment they would be using for their recon. As she went over the details she couldn't help but notice Anya standing in the corner glaring at her.

**oOoOo**

It was late and the house was quiet, but Dawn found herself unable to sleep. She decided to sneak downstairs to the kitchen. She moved quietly — not as stealthily as her sister — but enough to not disturb anyone. She was a little miffed that she hadn't been included in Cassie's plan, but then Buffy would've have probably put her foot down and stopped her from taking part.

As Dawn reached the top of the stairs, she started getting a strange feeling. She looked down from the landing and in the shadows she saw someone standing at the bottom landing looking towards the front door. Dawn was startled and she squinted trying to see who it was.

"Anya?" she said in a voice just above a whisper.

Dawn moved slowly down the stairs as she felt a cold clammy worried feeling growing inside her.

"Anya? Are you alright?" she asked raising her voice even more.

"Go back to bed Dawn." Anya replied.

Dawn's eyes widen as the tone in Anya's voice sounded dead with no emotion.

"Anya…you're scaring me. Why don't you step away from the door and we can go have some warm milk or tea. I think we still have some Oreos…you like Oreos." Dawn said raising her voice even more. She could see some of the Potentials sleeping in the living room start to stir.

Dawn was trying to think of what to do next when she suddenly heard a voice yelling from behind her.

"ANYA WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!"

Anya turned and looked up at the second floor landing. A small smile came to her face as she saw Xander standing there. She stepped closer towards the front door.

"I wanted us to be together… I loved you." Anya said in sad voice

"Anya…don't be crazy here. Step away from the door…don't open it." Xander replied in a worried voice.

"He told me…that I could have you back. It would be really easy. I could just open the door and they would just take her."

By this time, Buffy had made it to the stair landing and her eyes went wide as she saw Anya standing there. She'd caught part of the conversation, "Anya…who's he? Take who?"

"It was Olaf…but it wasn't Olaf." Anya replied in a distant emotionless voice.

Xander's eye went wide in shock and he started moving slowly down the stairs, past Dawn, towards Anya, "Anya…that wasn't Olaf. That was The First…it was messing with your mind."

A tear rolled down Anya's face as she tried to form a smile and failed, "I know that…I knew who it was, but it told me it would be so easy to get rid of her and I would have you back and we would be back to the way we were…"

Xander moved slowly closer towards Anya. He knew Buffy was moving up behind him and he saw Faith, Giles and Robin out of the corner of his eye, "Anya I know that I hurt you…what I did was wrong and I have to live with that, but it wasn't meant to be. That doesn't mean I still don't care for you." Xander said in a soft calm voice as he saw Anya moving slowly backwards toward the front door.

"I know that…but we could have had another chance, but with her around that just means it's over. I don't want to be alone…I don't want to die alone." Anya said in a breaking voice as tears ran down her face.

Xander was confused, "Who're you talking about? I don't know who you're talking about…and you're not alone. You have friends who care about you." he said in a calm voice as he got closer to her.

"That purple-haired alien! I've seen the way you look at her…sitting with her…following her around!"

"You're talking about Cassie!?" Xander said in a surprised confused voice.

His mind raced with thoughts and a small voice told him that he was attracted to her from the first moment he'd seen her and he found that he enjoyed spending time with and talking with her. He found that Cassie shared a lot of traits in common with Buffy — strength, determination — but he'd seen her vulnerable side too and she hadn't been ashamed to show it, where Buffy and Faith both hated to show that side, as if it weakened them somehow as being a Slayer was their burden to carry alone. Cassie had traits like a Slayer, but yet she wasn't and he had to admit that he was finding himself attracted to her like a moth to a flame.

Xander refocused as there were more important and immediate problems to deal with and he would deal with this revelation about his feelings towards Cassie later. He still cared about what happened to Anya.

He saw Anya moving backwards, closer to the door, and he fought the urge to lunge towards her. He could see that The First had messed with her mind, they had already had one Potential hang herself after talking with The First and Xander tried to keep his anger in check as he wasn't going to lose Anya like this.

He kept moving slowly closer saying her name softly. He knew that he'd hurt Anya badly when he left her on their wedding day and he would live with that guilt and shame for the rest of his life, but he couldn't change the past. At this moment he realized how deeply he'd hurt her to put her in a position of weakness that could be exploited. He finally decided he couldn't wait any longer and he moved quickly and had Anya in his arms. He hugged her tightly and pulled her away from the front door. He could feel Anya sobbing in his arms as he held her tight. He pulled her into the dining room and finally looked at her. His eye glistened as he saw her crying and he said her name softly and held her tightly.

Xander let out a deep sigh of relief as he held Anya. He knew that they would need to do some more talking, but they had averted a crisis tonight.

Everyone that was up was distracted looking towards Xander and Anya. There were a lot of confused looks as not everyone knew what had happened or knew about the history between Anya and Xander, but they were all relieved that no one had been hurt.

That all quickly changed as the living room window shattered as someone— something — came crashing through it.

Buffy immediately recognized what had come through the window, "BRINGER!" she screamed as she moved to deal with the threat. As she moved to deal with the Bringer, four more Bringers came following through the window. Screams and shouts filled the house as everyone moved out of the way or towards the threat.

Buffy started fighting with the first Bringer and she caught out of the corner of her eye Faith, Robin, Giles and Spike moving to try and stop the other Bringers from getting further into the house. She saw more Bringers coming up behind the next group and she heard screams of pain and she realized that a couple of Potentials had been close to the window and they were being stabbed to death by the Bringers. Buffy's anger grew and she landed a couple of hard blows to the Bringer's head sending him staggering. She moved quickly to spin the Bringer around grabbed him by the neck — in one quick fluid motion she snapped his neck.

She let go of the dead Bringer and turned to face the next one. She pushed the images of the bloody bodies on the floor and the screams from her ears as she got ready to face the next Bringer.

Everything changed as bright bolts seemed to come from the sky striking the Bringers trying to climb through the broken window. The Bringer's bodies flew backwards as the bolts struck their bodies leaving smoking holes in them. Buffy's head spun around in the direction of where the bolts were coming from and her eyes widened in surprise as she saw Cassie standing at the top of the stairs firing a weapon into the shattered window opening.

"BASTARDS!" Cassie screamed as she fired shot after shot into the attacking enemy. She tried to keep her fire focused and pick her targets as she gripped her Gallant in a two-handed stance, like her instructors had taught her. It was hard as everything was going so fast and her ears were filled with screams and she could see the blood. Despite that she was able to keep herself in control and composed — a part of her mind noted how it was so much different from flying a fighter in combat.

It felt like she'd been firing for hours, but then it was suddenly over as there were no more enemy coming through the window and those outside had beat a hasty retreat when they realized that they weren't going to survive the fire. The last energy capacitor had ejected from her weapon and Cassie didn't waste any time inserting a new energy clip. She made a grimace as she realized that she only had two more spare clips for her Gallant in side-arm mode.

**oOoOo**

It was a quiet subdued group that gathered in the dining room. They had cleared away the dead bodies from inside the house and from around the window opening. Everyone was in shock at the scene as the smell of burning flesh and blood still hung in the air. Buffy found herself looking at the others gathered in the room and seeing her feelings mirrored in their faces. They had managed to board up the living room window, but no one was in the mood to go back to sleep even though they were all exhausted.

"How many did we lose?" Giles asked in a quiet voice.

"Two girls…they were right by the window when they attacked…they didn't have a chance." Robin replied in a quiet hard voice.

Giles looked towards Xander, "How's Anya?"

Xander sighed, "I've got her settled down, Dawn's with her right now. I didn't want to leave her alone." he replied.

Giles nodded in understanding. He turned his look towards Faith, Buffy and Cassie who were standing together at the end of the table. He was struck by a funny thought of how Cassie seemed to fit right in with the other two Slayers even though she wasn't one. He shuddered to think what would have happened if Cassie hadn't been here with her weapon to help hold back the rush of Bringers. Even though they had lost two Potentials, they had killed over twenty Bringers which should put a dent in The First's plans — at least temporarily.

"Thank you Cassie…" he said looking at the woman. He was surprised at the angry look on her face.

"A fat lot of good that will do when I'm out of energy clips…" she spat out in disgust.

"Still…if you weren't here it could have been worse." Giles said.

"Yeah…without your ray gun there to hold back those Bringers we would still be hip deep in them." Faith added.

Cassie shook her head in frustration as she picked through her survival case still on the table, "I've got nothing else that we can use to fight back those bastards!"

"Take it easy, Cassie…" Buffy said trying to calm her.

"Damn it! It's all useless…I would trade my soul for a crate of energy clips or better yet for a Cyclone. All I've got are a few spare clips, survival knife, food and an emergency beacon!"

Cassie picked up the beacon and pressed the activation button, "Who the hell am I going to communicate with here!" she said with an angry sarcastic laugh as she slammed the beacon on the dining room table and turned and stormed off into the kitchen.

Xander followed Cassie into the kitchen and found her standing there looking out the window.

"Are you alright?" he asked in a soft voice. He heard Cassie let out a deep sigh.

"I don't know…I…I never faced anything like that before." she said in a shaky voice.

Xander immediately understood what she was feeling. Cassie had seen battle before, but not like this. Flying a fighter tended to put some distance between you and the battle. The danger was still the same, but you couldn't see, hear and smell the same things as you did when fighting something or someone up close.

Xander moved closer to Cassie and he hesitantly put his hand on her shoulder. He was caught off guard as she turned and moved closer into him. He didn't hesitate as he put his arms around her and hugged her with her face buried in his shoulder. After a long moment she slowly pulled away and was facing him really close.

"I'm sorry…"

Xander was a little taken aback by her statement, "What do you have to be sorry about?" he asked in a confused voice.

Cassie made a small grim smile, "I wish that there was more that I could do…" she paused and he could see her take a deep breath, "…I'm sorry that I caused problems between you and Anya. I didn't mean to."

Xander was surprised by her statement, "You've done a lot for us and you'll keep fighting with us…I have no doubt about that…" he said getting a smile from Cassie in response, "…about Anya and me...we have a lot of history together and I won't lie that we almost got married and we're still close and I care about her, but what happened tonight was her being manipulated by The First Evil…it likes to do things like that."

Cassie recalled what Xander had told her about The First Evil and she shuddered at the thought of something that could exist that could assume the form of anyone dead that you knew that would taunt and torment you.

Cassie suddenly realized that she and Xander were still standing there in the kitchen and he still had his arms wrapped around her — holding her — and she found that she was enjoying this moment with him. She looked into his face and thoughts raced through her mind about what to do next. Unfortunately her thoughts and Xander's thoughts were interrupted as the kitchen door swung open and Willow stuck her head in.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" she said in an embarrassed voice as she saw how Xander and Cassie were standing together.

"It's okay Will…what's up?" Xander said with a small smile.

Willow moved a little bit more into the kitchen and shook off her embarrassment, "Uhhh…Cassie."

"Yes, Willow?" Cassie replied moving away slowly from Xander.

"That thing you were handling…before you came in here."

"Yeah…that's my emergency beacon. What about it?" she asked not really giving it much thought.

"It…it seems to be talking." Willow said in a surprised voice.


	9. I'll let you know…

**CHAPTER NINE:**

**I'll let you know…**

Cassie almost ran over Willow as she rushed back into the dining room. She froze as she entered the room and heard the familiar sound of radio static crackling suddenly followed by a faint voice that faded in and out.

_"..peat… this… RE… …dia, we… signal… emerg… frequ… We… barely read… boost signal… …pond."_

"Cassie, who's that? What does this mean?" Giles asked in a confused voice.

Cassie found herself stunned as she heard the message repeated. She finally shook off her shock and moved to the emergency beacon. She picked it up like it was something delicate and would easily break and crumble to dust. She tapped in her identification code into the beacon's keypad and began speaking into the beacon.

"This is Lieutenant Cassidy Evans…from the REF Vanguard, call sign designation Viper-12. I have crashed landed on the planet Earth. Transmitting beacon co-ordinates…"

Cassie tapped another set of keys on the keypad and then waited. It took a few moments and the speaker on the beacon crackled to life again.

_"…Evans …ly read you… …oost signal… Arcadia out…"_

"My god…" Cassie muttered.

Buffy had heard the message and she was as stunned and confused as everyone else in the room. She heard Cassie mutter.

"What's wrong?" she asked with concern.

Buffy saw Cassie look at her and saw a smile form on her face. Buffy was feeling even more confused now.

"We need to find something to increase the signal range!" Cassie said urgently as she set the beacon back down on the table.

"Hold on! What's going on?" Buffy asked again, but this time her tone was a little more demanding.

"There's a ship out there…one of my ships! It's the Arcadia!" Cassie said excitedly as her mind swirled with plans and ideas.

She saw everyone look at her with blank looks.

"The Arcadia was my task force's flag ship…she can help us! She might have a way for me to get home!" Cassie babbled excitedly.

Everyone looked at Cassie stunned as the realization of what she said sank in.

**oOoOo**

Spike stood off to the side in the dining room watching the people sitting at the table talking and babbling back and forth. He couldn't make much sense of what Willow, Andrew and Cassie were babbling about. He'd been as shocked as everyone else to hear and know that there was another ship full of "aliens" out there. His eyes drifted to Cassie and he studied her closely. At first he hadn't thought too much about her, but her value, in his eyes, increased after this latest fight against the Bringers. The smell of burnt flesh and blood wasn't as strong now, but he could still smell it easily with his vampire senses. He watched Cassie and found that she reminded him of Buffy in her attitude and demeanor but dressed like Faith. He may be dead, but he wasn't that dead that his eyes didn't wander to look her over as she bent over or moved past him. He could easily see that Xander had a thing for her as he'd seen the way that wanker watched her and he'd caught Cassie checking Xander out when he wasn't looking.

A small smile came to Spike's face as a brief thought passed through his mind_, If the situation wasn't so serious, I would take a run at her, just to piss him off. That would be the trifecta…Buffy, Anya and Cassie. I can almost hear him howling right now._

Spike shook off the thought, no matter how appealing the idea was, this wasn't the time for a stunt like this as he realized that Buffy would probably kick his ass — and not in a nice way either. He continued listening to the babbling and was growing tired and bored. He leaned closer to Buffy and whispered in her ear.

"Sounds like a bloody nerd convention."

Faith was standing to the side and overheard Spike. She couldn't help herself and let out a laugh. The people at the table stopped their talking and looked towards her. She suddenly became very self-conscious and embarrassed.

"Sorry..." Faith mumbled as her eyes darted around the room in embarrassment.

Giles decided to use the interruption to get involved and find out what was going on, "So what have you been discussing?" he asked.

Willow looked at Cassie and Andrew first and then at Giles, "We've been trying to figure out why the signal is coming through so distorted and what we can do to increase the signal power and range."

Andrew chimed in, "Radio waves work on a line of sight principal…so the ship is just within the broadcast arc, but it could be distance or something is partially blocking the signal from getting through."

"Do you know what is causing problems with the signal?" Giles asked as he tried to process what Willow and Andrew were telling him.

This time Cassie responded, "The moon…"

"Come again?" Giles said in a confused voice.

"We think the moon and our position on the planet are causing the problem." Cassie replied with grim look.

Giles shook his head as he tried to understand what she was telling him. Cassie could see his confusion and continued, "If the Arcadia arrived here the same way I did, it's possible they were further out from the planet and once they realized what happened and where they were, they may have decided to hide behind the moon while they tried to figure out what was going on, but at the same time they would have wanted to keep an eye on the planet, so they're probably minimizing their exposure and are just at the edge of the moon's horizon that is visible to the planet."

"That's a lot of supposition without any real evidence." Giles said skeptically.

"That makes sense." Robin suddenly blurted out.

Everyone looked at him in surprise.

Robin continued, "Listen…about the same time that Cassie crashed here, there was a report of a bright flashing light and some sort of gravity disturbance near the moon. They were saying on the news that it was probably a meteor or a comet that hit the moon, but maybe it wasn't that…"

Cassie's eyes lit up at this information, "Gravity disturbances and a bright light are by-products of a space-fold taking place…it has to be them!"

Giles shook his head again, "Okay…so it looks like some of your compatriots are here and they are using the moon for cover. How do we communicate with them?"

"We need to boost the strength and quality of the beacon's signal." Willow answered.

Giles let out an exasperated sigh, "Yes I understand that, but how do we do it?"

Willow smiled, "We can use one of the town's radio stations…they have big broadcast transmitters and antennas."

"Uhhh…I don't want to rain on your parade as I'm no rocket scientist, but most of the town is without power now and I do know that you require power to run that equipment." Xander said in his usual tone of understating things.

Willow looked at Xander and shook her head slowly, "Radio stations have diesel generators to provide emergency backup power…"

Xander's eyes widened in excitement, "Okay, so let's get going!" he said excitedly.

"Hang on Xander. I think that Willow is about to give us a 'but'." Buffy said as she saw the look on Willow's face.

Willow nodded her head, "There are two 'buts'…" she said.

"Two buts?! I thought there was only the one 'but'!" Xander said excitedly.

Willow rolled her eyes and shook her head at Xander, "The first 'but' is easy…we may need to take fuel for the generators as they may be empty."

"And the second 'but'?" Giles asked.

"This 'but' is a little trickier…we need to figure out how to interface the emergency beacon with the radio station's equipment." Willow replied.

Cassie added, "The beacon comes with an interface port, but the connections may be incompatible and we'll have to rig something up, but we won't know until we get there and see."

"What's the problem? I say we get going!" Xander replied starting to stand up.

Giles quickly understood what part of the problem was, "Sit down Xander. How long would you need to hook things up?" he asked the people sitting at the table

All three people sitting at the table shrugged. Finally Cassie spoke for them, "That's the problem. We won't know until we try…it could be quick or could take hours…"

"And we'll have to stay at the station while you work on it." Giles said finishing the sentence.

Cassie nodded with a grim look on her face.

Everyone quickly understood that they would be exposed to any attacks while at the radio station — for however long it took to complete the work.

Giles took a moment to consider the group's options and realized they didn't have much choice, "I would suggest that we cancel the reconnaissance mission and as soon as it is light enough out that we take everyone and get what we need and find a radio station that can serve our purposes. I have a feeling we'll need as much daylight as we can get to complete this work."

**oOoOo**

Captain Coleiro found himself pacing the bridge by the communications station, "Anything else?" he asked impatiently.

"No, sir. Other than the pilot's name and a partial id everything else was too faint to read." replied the Ensign manning the communications station.

"And you're sure it was one of our beacons?"

"Yes, sir. It was on our emergency distress frequency and we've heard nothing else on that channel since we've arrived here."

Another crewman spoke up, "Sir! We've run the name through our databases and confirmed that there was a Lieutenant Cassidy Evans flying with Viper Squadron off of the _Vanguard_."

"Were we able to track the location from where the signal came from?"

"We were only able to get a general location, nothing specific. The signal is coming from the western region of the North American continent, which would make sense since that region is just moving out of our line of sight." the communications Ensign reported.

"When will they be back in range?" Coleiro asked trying to keep his frustration and impatience in check.

"Hard to say, sir as it depends on where the Lieutenant is located in that region, but my best guess is we should be back in range in the next 12 to 14 hours."

"Understood...keep monitoring the channel for anything and inform me immediately if you hear anything."

"Yes, sir!"

Coleiro moved back to his bridge station and sat there for several moments as he considered the situation and the ramifications that his actions would have.

"Ensign…I want the War Room on Deck One brought online and have Lieutenant Hanson report to me there ASAP. I also want all data and telemetry of the planet transmitted down there as well." Coleiro ordered as he stood up and made his way off the bridge.

"Yes, sir." the Ensign replied as Coleiro left the bridge.

**oOoOo**

The War Room had been designed for use by senior officers in large scale operations for strategy and tactical planning. The primary use was for co-ordinating space, air and ground operations. In the center of the room was a huge holographic table that could project the battlefield and units in real-time using data gathered from the ship's sensors and also receiving data from other ships, recon, Elint and AWACS craft. Due to the nature of the task force's original mission, the War Room had been put off-line, but now Coleiro required its resources and capabilities.

The room was already powered up and as he walked over to the holographic tactics table, it powered on and the display shimmered for a moment and suddenly a blue and white world was projected above the table along with the moon and the Arcadia showing their current positions.

Coleiro leaned on the table and studied the images being projected. He was lost in thought as he went over ideas and plans, that he almost didn't hear Lieutenant Hanson enter the room.

"Sir." Hanson said coming to a parade rest behind the Captain.

"At ease Lieutenant. Come here and give me your thoughts." Coleiro said waving the younger officer over.

Hanson approached a little nervously and leaned somewhat uncomfortably against the table mimicking the Captain and studied the projection of the planet and the data that was coming up on the display screens situated around the room.

It was quiet for nearly ten minutes and the Captain finally spoke, "So Lieutenant…how do we go about recovering our pilot?"

"Sir…until we can get a location fix on Lieutenant Evans, it will be hard to plan let alone execute any operation."

"Agreed, but we can take certain steps."

"Sir?"

"How many shuttle crews are currently on their rest rotation from the recovery operations?" Coleiro asked.

"We have nineteen shuttle crews…currently we have ten on scheduled rest periods."

"Okay as of right now we're going to retask our recovery operations. I want all crews brought in and to go on a rest break. I want you to find the crew that has the most, if any, Horizont dropship experience. I then want that crew in the simulators practising re-entries and orbital insertions. Find out who are most experienced on our crew in electronic warfare and countermeasures, I would like four crews to man our AWACS, but I'll settle for three. In three hours I want one AWAC sortied and to make a slow quiet approach on the planet and to establish a geosynchronous orbit over the North American continent. They are to use passive sensors to scan the planet…especially military radio and radar frequencies and relay all data back here. I want the other AWACS crews to be on standby to either replace the orbiting AWAC or be deployed to support our SAR operation."

"What about the drone recovery operation?"

"We still need those drones…I want six crews on recovery operations on a 3 and 3 rotating schedule. They are to only search for and only tag drones for future recovery. They will only tag the drones unless the drone is in danger of crashing to the moon's surface or at risk of being lost. As of right now our priority is recovering our wayward pilot…understood?"

"Yes, sir." Hanson said in a slightly questioning tone.

Coleiro picked up the tone, "You have a question?"

"Sir…what's the rescue plan?"

The Captain let out a small sigh which caught Hanson by surprise, "Lieutenant…I'll let you know as soon as I figure it out myself."

**oOoOo**

It was much earlier than he normally arrived at his office, but the Secretary of Defense had received a phone call and the nature and urgency of the call dictated his earlier than usual arrival at his office.

As he entered his office, four senior officers rose to their feet quickly from the chairs they had been sitting in waiting for him to arrive. The SECDEF waved at them to sit back down as he took his seat behind his desk. He had barely settled into his chair, when he looked at the gathered military officers.

"What happened?" he asked getting right to the point to not waste any time.

An Air Force General spoke up, "Sir, there's been no further developments with the 'object' near the moon, but as standard procedure, we did a review of all data from radar and other electronic gathering sources to see if we missed anything."

The SECDEF got a worried frown on his face as he got a bad feeling where this was heading, "What did you find?"

"Sir, when the event near the moon occurred, we didn't think that there was any major impact to our systems, but reviewing the data it appears that our radar and early-warning tracking systems were…disrupted for about a ten minute window."

The SECDEF's eyes widened in shock and he had to take a moment to calm himself as it was much too early to start ripping strips from Generals, "So what you're telling me is that for a ten minute period, we had no idea what was happening in our airspace and we're just finding out now?" he said trying not to bite his tongue.

The Air Force General was visibly nervous as he tried to explain such a failure in US defense systems, "Sir, the impact was mostly on our high-altitude and space tracking systems, we didn't notice anything at first, because there was no data to report…nothing at all. We think that the gravity disturbance from the 'event' distorted our systems, but did not bring them down or cause interference which we would have noticed."

The SECDEF got a grim look on his face as he considered what the General had told him, "Gentlemen, you did not bring me in this early just to tell me about this breakdown in our warning systems."

"No, sir," replied the Air Force General, "During our review, we gathered reports of a meteor entering the atmosphere as a fireball was reported streaking across the sky over California."

"Why am I just hearing about this now?" the SECDEF once again trying to control his anger.

Another General decided to speak up, "There was nothing to indicate it was anything else other than a meteor, at the time, as radar showed the object breaking apart."

"What's changed?"

"Four hours ago, we received an anonymous phone call reporting that there was debris from the fireball strewn across a wide area covering California and Nevada. We were given some GPS co-ordinates and at first it was considered a joke, but the caller also reported something descending from the sky."

The SECDEF started to feel his heart beat faster, "Have you sent a team to those co-ordinates?"

"Yes, sir and they reported immediately back that they found debris from a craft that appeared to have broken up and crashed. There wasn't any huge pieces left, but from what they did find…" the General paused.

The SECDEF was getting impatient, "What did they find?"

"Sir, this is just a preliminary field report and it requires more investigation, but our field team reports that the debris was from an aircraft of unknown type and design."

The stillness hung over the office like a cloud. The SECDEF finally spoke, "Is there anything else?"

"Sir, the caller reported that the object descending was near the town of Sunnydale, California."

The SECDEF's eyes shot wide open in shock, "Sunnydale…you said Sunnydale."

The Generals suddenly got worried and concerned at the change in the Secretary's behavior at the mention of the town's name.

The SECDEF was trying to control his racing heart and the panic attack he could feel building inside him.

_Oh God…why Sunnydale?_

He took a deep breath and managed to calm himself somewhat, "Gentlemen…this is a direct order…consider this a direct Presidential order. Under no circumstances are you to send anyone into Sunnydale to investigate this report."

"But, sir…?"

"There is no exception to this order, I will deal with Sunnydale while you continue recovery and investigation of the debris…is that understood?" the SECDEF said with a tone that meant he would end people's careers — at best — if they disobeyed him.

The surprised officers stood quickly to attention, "Yes, sir!" they said together.

"Now get out and keep me apprised of any changes or developments!" the SECDEF said brusquely.

The stunned and confused officers quickly left the office, leaving the SECDEF sitting there alone with his thoughts racing. He finally managed to regain his composure and got up and went to his wall safe and punched in his security code and opened the safe. He quickly retrieved the file folder he was looking for and as he walked back to his desk he opened and looked at the contents of the folder. He'd been briefed by his predecessor about this folder and he hoped that he wouldn't have had to open it, but events were forcing his hand.

He sat back down still reading the folder's contents. His eyes were fixated on a picture of a young blonde woman who didn't appear more than twenty-one at the time when the photo had been taken. He shook his head as he read the name.

_Buffy Summers… Buffy Anne Summers…_

The Secretary didn't hesitate as his hand reached for his phone and dialed the phone number that was inside the file folder. It was a number that he'd always dreaded having to call. He didn't have to wait long as the phone was picked up on the second ring.

"General Coulson…how long will it take you to get to my office?"

The SECDEF paused as he listened to the response.

"Yes this is urgent… It appears that we have a problem in Sunnydale."

**oOoOo**

"Captain, you sent for me?"

Colleiro turned around from the holographic table to face the familiar voice and saw the familiar figure of Chief Petty Officer Rachel Larson standing at a parade rest with a small smirk on her face. A smile came to the Captain's face as he looked the Chief over.

He'd known her for at least twenty years — since he'd come aboard the SDF-3. The Chief was in her mid-fifties now, but considering the pressures and work she did, she had aged pretty well. A memory flashed through his mind to the first time he'd encountered Larson, she'd been one of the few women he'd encountered that had been immune to his boyish charms and she'd sent him crashing and burning in flames letting him know in no uncertain terms that he wasn't her type. Coleiro hadn't been too upset as he found the Chief to be a valuable resource — since she was one of the few people that knew every detail and limitations about the craft used by the REF and could also take apart and reassemble any ship with her eyes closed. Now she was one of his closest friends — actually she was one of his few friends that were still alive. Larson was the closest thing to family that he had left and she had become a motherly figure to him as she tended to worry and make sure he was taking care of himself. They had served in Skull Squadron together where she had been crew chief for maintaining his fighter. When he had transferred over to take command and rebuild the Grim Reapers, Rachel had followed him and had become head of all the support and maintenance crews for the squadron, but she still performed the maintenance for his fighter.

"Yeah, Chief. I need your expert advice."

"No problem, sir. Is this in regards to our downed pilot?"

Coleiro snorted and smiled, "Nothing gets past you Chief."

"That's why I get paid the big bucks…sir. What's the question?" she said with a smirk.

"Docking an Alpha with a Horizont in atmosphere…what's the best altitude and how long to accomplish it?"

The Chief moved towards the Captain and leaned against the table looking at the holographic representation of Earth.

"Have to maintain a stable speed…and there should be no turbulence. Low and slow is best…about 13,000 meters no faster than 800 kph. The best time for docking, I've ever heard of, was just under 2 minutes from starting approach to cockpit secured and sealed inside the docking bay and that was under optimal training conditions."

Coleiro got a grim serious look on his face and Larson got a bad feeling.

"Could we dock an Alpha at…say 24,000 meters going Mach 1?"

Larson's eyes went wide in surprise. She took a hard long look at the Captain, "Sir…when's the last time you got some sleep?"

Coleiro laughed, "I'm serious Chief."

"So am I."

Coleiro shook his head, "I'll grab a couple of hours after this, but I need to know if it's possible."

Larson sighed and shook her head, "You're going to be almost at the Alpha's operational ceiling in atmosphere…at those speeds and if the Horizont pilot and Alpha pilot keep their nerve…"

Coleiro laughed at the statement.

Larson smiled, but then she got a serious look as she continued on, "…it's possible, but it will be tricky. If you try to rush it and make a mistake…at those speeds you'll just be fireballs and raining debris littering the ground."

The Captain took a moment to think about what the Chief had said.

"Sir, if I may make a suggestion."

"Go ahead Chief."

"Why all the big production? Take an Alpha with an attached Beta module do a combat re-entry, land, pick up the pilot, stick her in the Beta and blast back into orbit…quick and fast. With a Beta attached an Alpha can easily reach and break orbit."

"I considered it Chief, but we don't know the condition of the pilot and if she requires medical attention I won't be able to do it myself. Plus if I have to get out of my ship, I won't be able to secure the LZ by myself."

"All this for one pilot…" the Chief muttered shaking her head.

"Rachel…you know me. I wouldn't do this if there was another way and I won't leave any of our people behind."

Larson nodded as she knew the Captain all too well and that he was serious about not leaving anyone behind.

"You want me to prep your fighter?"

Coleiro shook his head, "I'll take one of the other Alphas that Shadow fighter is the only one we've got and I don't want to risk it on this mission. The defensive systems and counter-measures are more than adequate for what we'll be facing…" a grin grew on his face, "…plus I have a little surprise in store that will buy us some time from the locals."

Larson shook her head as a grin came to her face because whenever she saw that grin, she knew that the Captain had something wild planned."

**oOoOo**

General Coulson was ushered into the SECDEF's office. The Secretary meet and greeted him and quickly got him seated.

"Sir, I rushed over here as fast as I could. What's the problem with Sunnydale?"

The SECDEF looked the General over, "You're aware of that event that occurred near the moon?"

"Does this have anything to do with why we're now at DEFCON 3?"

The SECDEF snorted at seeing how quiet things had been kept, "There's something out there by the moon, but we don't know what it is."

"Aliens?"

The SECDEF shrugged, "Anything's possible and I'm not willing to take any chances."

"What's the connection to Sunnydale?"

"We received an anonymous phone call reporting that something came down near Sunnydale."

"Anonymous phone call? It doesn't sound right, sir."

"Agreed, but the call was also traced to Sunnydale. The caller was male and spoke English with a slight Southern accent."

There was a pause and the SECDEF continued, "How long will it take for you to put together and send a team into Sunnydale to investigate?"

"Normally I would say give me twenty-four hours to assess the threat and send a team in, but with this being Sunnydale and the circumstances involved, I'll need a little bit longer."

"Why?"

"One of my agents has first-hand knowledge of the area and knows all the principals involved…including her. He's currently out on a mission in South America and I'll need time to recall and brief him and assemble a team."

The SECDEF had a doubtful look, but he didn't have much of a choice in the matter as he was following standard protocol for matters involving Sunnydale.

"General, I'll give you forty-eight hours to get in there, find out what the hell is going on and report back."

"Understood, sir" Coulson said nodding in understanding.

"General…I want this situation contained and kept low profile. I don't want anything like that Initiative debacle taking place under my watch…understood?"

"Yes, sir. We'll contain the situation and if required we will neutralize any threat."


	10. Death is coming

**CHAPTER TEN:**

**Death is coming…**

Captain Coleiro strode, like a man on a mission, into the briefing room. The assembled personnel jumped to attention as the Captain moved to the front of the room and assumed a parade rest stance.

"At ease. Take your seats."

The Captain waited long enough for everyone to get seated and began his briefing, "I hope everyone is rested up," Coleiro couldn't help but notice Chief Larson, who was sitting off in the corner, look at him shaking her head slightly with a disapproving frown. He shook it off and continued on, "Alright…the codename for this mission is 'Operation Winter Storm'. As you're all aware, we've picked up a distress beacon from one of our pilots down on the planet. Even though this is Earth we must consider it hostile territory and we will probably encounter opposition. Normally for this type of SAR operation, we would do a hard snatch and grab with a squadron of Alpha and Betas fighters providing air cover, but we're short of pilots and are limited in resources, so we have to adapt our strategy."

One of the crewman raised his hand.

"Yes, you have a question."

"Yes, sir. Do we know what kind of opposition we will be facing?"

"We only have a minimal understanding of this planet's military capabilities."

Coleiro saw a lot of eyes roll and heard a few groans. A small smile came to his face, "Yeah, I know…I know. It would be a perfect world where we know our opposition's full capabilities and intentions, but from what we have been able to observe from video broadcasts and extrapolating from our own planet's history, I think we can get a decent picture of what we'll be facing."

"Our downed pilot…Lieutenant Cassidy Evans, from the id on the distress beacon, is located somewhere in the Western part of North America." Coleiro heard some more groans. "Yes I know we don't have an exact location yet as to where our pilot is, but that doesn't mean we can't get in position when we re-establish contact with her."

A holographic image of the planet appeared, with the North American continent displayed.

"We already have an AWACS shuttle in orbit around the planet gathering intel on the defensive systems in use on that part of the planet. The shuttle is also in close position to get a get a lock on the Lieutenant's emergency beacon when she tries to communicate with us again."

Another question from the crew, "Sir, why didn't she leave it on?"

Coleiro shook his head, "Could be for a number of reasons…she may have had to relocate her position, the battery may be low or she's trying to find some way of boosting the signal. She doesn't know our status other than that we're out here and that we couldn't read her initial transmission. That doesn't mean that we're not ready to go when she broadcasts again."

Coleiro looked around the assembled group and saw a few nods this time.

"This operation is divided into two phases…the space-air and the ground phase. The space-air phase will consist of one Horizont drop ship….designation Pelican-One. Three EC-32 Eyrie shuttles which includes the one already on station. They will be designated Watchers One through Three respectively and then there will be myself in an Alpha."

The crew watched as small holographic images representing the ships appeared in relative positons to the planet.

"Watcher-One will gather and feed real-time data of all detection and communication systems in use on the North American continent. The rest of us will launch and make a slow and low profile approach on the planet to minimize any chances of detection. My Alpha will be docked to Pelican-One until we get close to the planet. Once we get into close proximity to the planet, Watchers Two and Three will break off to assume geosynchronous orbits to maintain position over the North American continent. These two shuttles will be configured for electronic warfare mode. Their job will be to jam and disrupt all detection and communication systems across the continent."

The holographic images of the ships moved as the Captain spoke showing their movements and positions. A small smile appeared on the Captain's face as he saw the looks of surprise on his crews' faces at the scope of what he was planning.

"Yes, I know that's asking a lot from only two shuttles, but I'm confident in our tech advantage that we can do it for a long enough period to create a window for Pelican-One and myself to do a re-entry without being detected by their defensive systems and also impair any potential response."

A hand went up from one of the shuttle pilots.

"Yes, go ahead."

"Sir, they may not be able to see you on radar, but they'll probably see your re-entry tracks and they could vector forces to those areas."

"Unfortunately that's a risk. The jamming will degrade their ability to co-ordinate their defenses and responses…" Coleiro left out the part where he was "hoping" that was the case, but he was more than confident they could enter the atmosphere without being intercepted, "…Chief Larson will have Watchers-Two and Three rigged up to carry an external loadout of six target drones each. At predetermined positions, they will each launch a pair of the target drones to re-enter the atmosphere over the continent at different points. This will give the appearance that a much larger force is entering the atmosphere and they won't know our true destination…once we know where that is."

Coleiro paused to let what he'd said sink in and then he continued on.

"Once we've re-entered the atmosphere and landed, comes the second phase of the operation. Pelican-One, besides its three man crew, will be carrying a ten man security detail with an attached medic. This team will be led by Sergeant Bronowski. Their task is to secure the LZ. For this they will be outfitted as Cyclone infantry. If our target is not at the LZ when Pelican-One lands, I will land and use my Cyclone to attempt contact and retrieval of Lieutenant Evans…"

Coleiro saw looks exchanged between the crew and understood their concern.

"…Yes I know it's a risk. I want to minimize how long we're flying in the atmosphere. From the initial scans on the systems they're using we may at best be able to create havoc for about two to three hours before they'll be able to counter, burn through and recover somewhat from our jamming. I don't want to risk anyone seeing my Alpha zooming over the sky and reporting it, plus sending one person to pick up the Lieutenant will minimize our interaction with the local population."

"Sir, maybe I should go and do the pick-up." Sergeant Bronowski said speaking up.

"No Sergeant…I need you securing the LZ and you will be my backup in case I need it. If things go sideways, Pelican-One can do a fast take off and orbital insertion and I would rather have only one person at risk."

Sergeant Bronowski spoke up again, "Sir, are we authorized to use force?"

Coleiro didn't blink or hesitate at the question, "This is Earth and we don't want to start a war with them, but like I said earlier, consider this hostile territory and you can defend yourselves accordingly against any aggressive act…just try and minimize any casualties among the local population if possible."

This brought a few chuckles from the personnel that were assigned to the ground team.

He continued on, "Once the Lieutenant is secured and everyone is back aboard, Pelican-One will take off followed by myself. Pelican-One will apply thrusters and go to 24,000 meters and hold there while I dock my Alpha and then go for an orbital insertion and return to the Arcadia."

The Captain saw the stunned looks from the shuttle crews as they understood what he was going to attempt, "Yes I know that no one has attempted to do a mating sequence at that altitude and we will be going around Mach 1 when we perform the attempt. With that being said, I am only allowing for a five minute window to do the docking sequence as I will not have the dropship and its crew stay in atmosphere any longer than necessary that increases its exposure and risk. If I have not docked with Pelican-One within that five minute window, they are to apply full thruster burn to head for orbit and return to the Arcadia."

The crew started grumbling at this information and Coleiro held up his hands to regain control, "Yes, like I said there is risk and this is not how we would normally conduct a Search and Rescue mission, but then we're not dealing with normal times or normal situation here…" Coleiro paused as he looked at each person's face, "…In the event that something goes wrong at the LZ, the ground team and dropship crew are to destroy all ships. They will then use their Cyclones to evacuate the area. We will regroup at the co-ordinates of where our Monument City would be located and contact the Arcadia for retrieval."

The Captain paused again to let his words sink in, but his face showed nothing but confidence, "Ladies and Gentlemen, there's a lot than can go wrong and there's a lot of risk, but that's the line of work we're in…"

This brought some chuckles from the crowd and some smiles appeared.

"I have the utmost confidence in all of you to perform your duties and do what is expected of you. We are going to bring our pilot back home. Everyone review your individual mission packets…we will be going wheels up in two hours. Dismissed!"

The crew immediately stood to attention as the Captain headed out of the room.

**oOoOo**

The sun was just breaking the dawn sky, when a large group of people exited the house on to a quiet empty street. Everyone was tired, but they were motivated as there appeared to be hope and salvation on the horizon.

Word had spread fast among the Potentials, that there was a ship out in space filled with people from Cassie's world and they knew she was here and alive. That gave them hope to overcome their fear and exhaustion which they needed after the attack by the Bringers.

Not everyone was going on this mission, Buffy, Giles, Xander and Willow had discussed what to do about Anya. She was still in a fragile condition and the last thing they wanted or needed was to drag her into a battle. It was finally decided to leave Dawn, several of the Potentials that had injuries that would slow them down or hamper them and Spike — who wasn't happy about it — at the house. The group had discussed that in the event that things went really bad, that everyone would try and make it back to the house.

As the morning sun continued its rise, the group broke up into two smaller groups. Xander, Giles, Robin with some of the Potentials headed off to scrounge up diesel fuel, in case it was required. Buffy, Faith, Cassie, Willow, Andrew and the rest headed off to the nearest radio station.

They had already picked out the radio station they would try to hook up Cassie's emergency beacon to. There were several radio stations that were actually closer than their objective, but those stations were FM only stations. Cassie, Willow and Andrew had discussed it and they decided to go for an AM radio station as its transmitters had longer broadcast ranges compared to FM. It wasn't a perfect plan, but time was critical and they needed to try something.

The group, headed for the radio station, was on foot and because of the distance there was a lot of time for the people to intermingle and talk as they walked.

Even though it was daylight, Faith still kept an eye out for any potential threats or dangers. She studied the empty streets and abandoned houses and buildings. There was an eerie silence hanging over everything — there were no birds singing, no other sounds than the crunching of feet on the ground and the voices of the people in the group talking.

Faith was a little surprised when Cassie moved over to walk beside her. The Slayer looked over the Lieutenant and a small smile came to her face, she still found it a little hard to believe how Cassie was dressed and that she actually seemed to like the outfit and style she was projecting.

"What you smiling about?" Cassie asked seeing Faith looking her over.

Faith shook her head slowly, "Never figured you for the tight leather pants and tight shirt crowd."

Cassie raised an eyebrow, "Why would you think that?"

"You being military and all that."

Cassie started laughing.

Faith was a little puzzled by the response, "What's so funny?"

"You thinking I'm just a dull square by the rules soldier…"

"Well you're a soldier."

"You don't think that purple is my natural hair color do you?"

"I…I just assumed…" Faith started to say, but then she smiled and laughed.

"Never pictured you as the rebel-type." Faith added.

Cassie smiled, "The REF has military standards and protocols…I can have any hair color I want. I could even have longer hair, but it's more comfortable wearing my helmet with it cut short, plus I got…" she paused as her smile faded as the memory of the Vanguard blowing up flashed through her mind, "…I had some civilian one-piece outfits that are…were tighter."

Faith could see that she had touched a nerve, "Sorry if I said something wrong…I have a knack for doing that."

"No, it's okay." Cassie said quickly with a small smile.

There was a long moment of uncomfortable silence. Cassie finally decided to break the silence as she'd been wanting to ask Faith a question.

"Faith…I…umm…heard people talking around the house…I heard some people say that you and Xander…umm…had been…you know."

Faith cracked a small smile as she picked up on what Cassie was trying to ask, "You're wondering if me and Xander have done the horizontal dance…some mattress dancing—"

"Yes…sex." Cassie said a little bit embarrassed.

There was a pause and Cassie spoke, "I already caused problems with Anya…I don't want to cause any more problems."

Faith shook her head, "You don't need to worry about anything between me and Xander. We did our little ships bump in the night encounter years ago and nothing since then. It probably meant more to him than me." she said with a shrug.

She saw the look on Cassie's face, "And don't worry about Anya and Xander. She just got her emotions and mind scrambled over easy by The First. Things will work out or we'll all die." she said with a smirk and sarcastic tone.

"You're just a ray of sunshine, aren't you?" Cassie said with a shake of her head.

Faith laughed, "When you're a Slayer you take the moments as they come. So, you got a little thing for the Xanderman?"

Cassie blushed a little, "I…I like him. He's different from other guys I've known."

"So you've been with a lot of guys?" Faith asked, but as soon as the question left her mouth she knew that she'd put her foot in it again, "Sorry…didn't mean to be so blunt."

Cassie was blushing again which Faith found kind of strange for someone that was a military officer and a fighter pilot.

"I…I've never had…been to bed with a guy." Cassie replied somewhat bashfully.

"You've got nothing to be sorry about…you don't have to make the same mistakes like I did," Faith said in an apologetic tone, "Plus liking Xander isn't a bad choice…he isn't that bad of a guy and I should know as I've seen and had my share of them." she said with a shrug.

Cassie was thinking over what Faith had said, when Buffy moved up and joined them.

"Whatcha guys talking about?"

Before Cassie could say anything, Faith spoke up, "We're talking about guys. You know love…sex…a lot of deep shit here."

Buffy shook her head at Faith's colorful use of language, "Oh please…I don't want to go there!" she said with a groan.

Faith couldn't resist the urge, "What?! You don't want to share your deep pool of knowledge and experience with Cassie." she said with a smile using her usual sarcastic tone.

Buffy gave Faith a glare, which caused her to laugh. A moment of quiet descended on the three women as they continued walking.

Buffy finally broke the quiet, "Cassie…this plan of yours…will it work? Will your people come here?"

"Yes…yes they will." Cassie replied without hesitation.

Faith saw Cassie's face and at that moment she could almost believe her that they had a chance.

**oOoOo**

Coleiro entered the hanger bay wearing his CVR-4 body armor, carrying his helmet in his hand. He was making his way to a group of Alphas that were lined up along the hanger bay. He didn't get far, when a voice caught his attention.

"Going somewhere Captain?"

"Coleiro stopped and turned towards the voice, "You know where I'm headed, Chief."

He was a little surprised and taken aback when Chief Larson shook her head with a grin plastered across her face.

"No, sir. You don't want any of those ships. I got your ship waiting over by launch bay two."

The Captain was a little puzzled, but he followed Larson. She was talking as they got closer to the launch bay, "I found this old crate sitting around gathering dust and knew that if you were going to fly off on a crazy mission like this, then you'd want it."

Coleiro stopped in his tracks as he saw his old Alpha sitting looking primed and ready to go. He'd been forced to give up his old fighter when the squadron had been re-equipped with the new Shadow fighters and he thought it had been mothballed or scrapped. He felt his throat tighten up looking at the fighter he'd flown for years. His eyes moved across the ship's lines taking in the non-standard colors used on the ship — that he'd had to fight his superiors to use — and they finally ended on the vertical tail stabilizers that were adorned with a very detailed and graphic image of a Grim Reaper holding a scythe with flames surrounding him.

Coleiro found himself speechless, "H…H…How?" he finally managed to stammer out.

Larson's grin had turned into a smile, "This old bird still has life in it. I've spent as much time, if not more, servicing her as you've spent flying her. I didn't want to see her broken up, so I called in a few favors and had her stored aboard before we folded out of Tirol."

Coleiro moved closer to the nose of the plane and ran his hand gently over the ship. His hand slowed down as it crossed the name written in small letters across the fuselage just below the cockpit. He stopped as he looked at the name — _Sonia_ — and his memory went back in time and space. His memory brought up a beautiful young woman with short blonde hair who smiled at him. It was replaced by another image of the same young woman, who was dying after getting caught by an Invid annihilation disc. The image of her burnt, broken and bleeding body caused the old pain to well up, but he pushed it back down — he'd had more than enough practice over the years doing that.

Chief Larson watched the Captain and her smile started to fade as she knew what he was thinking and feeling. A part of her had wished she hadn't brought his old fighter aboard, but at the same time that ship was as much a part of him as his own skin. That ship had brought him back from so many missions where he should have died, it was his good luck charm and she knew that with the mission he was about to fly, he was going to need all the luck he could get.

She stood back as the Captain did his pre-flight walk around and checked the ship out. He finished the check and walked back to the Chief.

"Thanks Rachel…I mean it." Coleiro said trying to not let his emotions get the better of him.

"I know sir," she replied keeping her own emotions in check, "You watch yourself out there…"

"Always do, Chief." he replied giving her a charming boyish smile. She saw the smile and she was struck by the fact that she rarely saw the Captain smile like that anymore. Larson laughed and started to shake her head slowly as the Captain had been notorious for using that smile in his pursuits of the opposite sex — very successfully — in his younger days.

Coleiro put his helmet on and Larson could no longer see his face through the fully-tinted helmet visor. Instead of a face, she was looking at a huge skull covering the visor that couldn't be missed by anyone. It was another one of the Captain's trademarks — that he'd started when he was in Skull Squadron — that he never gave up. Everyone in the REF had either seen or heard of his trademark helmet. Even after all these years, Larson still got a little chill when she saw him with the helmet on — he was now Reaper-One and wherever he went death was always close behind. Larson moved back as the Captain boarded his fighter and started the engines and taxied to the launch bay.

The launch was quick and smooth and he quickly rendezvoused and docked with the dropship. The Horizont along with the shuttles then increased power to their engines and began their flight to Earth. After an hour, the ships cut their engines and used their momentum to keep them headed to the planet, but trying to maintain a low energy and heat profile to avoid detection.

**oOoOo**

Cassie and her group reached the radio station, they warily entered and checked the building out. It was deserted and as they feared the backup generators were down and out of fuel. That didn't deter Cassie, Willow and Andrew as they went to the broadcast room and looked at the equipment and popped open the interface port on the emergency beacon.

They went to work rummaging through the control and storage rooms looking for cables. They sorted through the piles of cables on the table looking for something that would fit.

"This would be easier if we could open up the beacon." Andrew mused out loud as he checked cables.

"That's Plan B if we can't find a cable." Cassie replied, "I would rather avoid having to mess around doing something like that."

It was almost two hours later when Xander and the others showed up carrying jerry cans filled with fuel. It took a bit, after refueling the generators, to coax them back to life and a few minutes after that the generators were running with power slowly coming back to parts of the station.

Xander wandered into the room where Cassie, Willow and Andrew were pulling apart cables and attempting to see what ends would fit in the beacon.

"So how's it going?"

Willow sighed, "So far no luck…ends are either wrong size or shape."

"So what now?" Xander asked somewhat worriedly.

This time Cassie sighed, "Time for Plan B…we'll open up the beacon and try soldering a cable end into the interface port."

"Won't you damage the beacon, maybe break it?" Xander asked with growing concern.

Cassie shook her head, "It's not what I want to do, but I don't think we have much of a choice."

"I think I saw a soldering iron in one of the rooms we went through. I'll grab it." Andrew said standing up and heading for the door.

Xander stopped him at the door, "Make sure you take someone with you…this place is pretty big and it's still dark even with the generators running."

Andrew nodded his understanding and headed off down the hall.

**oOoOo**

Andrew had managed to convince two of the Potentials to tag along with him as he tried to retrace his steps to remember where he'd seen that soldering iron. As they went back through each room, Andrew found his thoughts drifting about everything he'd done and how he'd gotten to this point in his life. He'd made a lot of bad decisions to this point — murdering Jonathan being the lowest point — but he was trying to make amends now. He found himself actually excited to know that there were spaceships and aliens out there, maybe not in this dimension but in other dimensions the human race was traveling among the stars. Andrew thought wistfully again of Jonathan and felt a deep sense of guilt and regret as he knew that his friend would have been thrilled to know this as well and would be helping right now if he was alive. Andrew found himself wishing that Warren was here too as he was much better at the electronics end and he would've probably been able to get the beacon up and running by now.

Any further thoughts of Warren were interrupted by a voice behind him, "This going to take much longer?"

Andrew turned to face the impatient female voice belonging to one of the Potentials — named Tamara, "I'm sure it's in one of these rooms…"

"You said that four rooms ago." came an impatient response back from the other Potential — named Sharon.

"Well we need to keep looking until we find it." Andrew replied as he took down a box from a shelf and opened it and started going through it.

"Yeah…yeah I know, but this place gives me the creeps," Tamara said trying to control the fear in her voice.

Andrew wasn't going to argue. With the generators going, some of the emergency lights had kicked back in. Where they were working, they cast an eerie low light with dark shadows in every corner. He found his heart beating harder every time they went down a hall.

Sharon and Tamara stood by the entrance of the storage room not really providing any assistance to him other than only giving a casual glance around the room. They were both too nervous and every little sound in the building seemed to echo and reverberate increasing their anxiety.

Tamara leaned in and whispered to Sharon, "I'll be right back…"

Sharon was a little surprised that Tamara was wandering off, "What's wrong?" she asked anxiously.

"Nothing…I'm thirsty and there's a vending machine at the end of the hall."

"You know that it's not working and the pop will be warm." Sharon replied shaking her head.

"They have bottled water in there too." Tamara replied a little put off.

Sharon shook her head again, "Okay, don't be long and grab me a bottle too."

Tamara stuck out her tongue as she walked to the end of the hall. Sharon watched her friend walk away. She saw her shadow at the vending machine and heard her start to bang and hit the machine.

"Yeah…good luck with that." Sharon whispered as she shook her head as she watched and listened to her friend trying to open the vending machine. She turned her head and saw Andrew still digging through boxes in the room. She didn't know who to laugh at as she heard the banging and swearing from down the hall. Sharon looked down and something pushed to the back of one of the lower shelves caught her eye. She moved further into the room and bent down to check it out.

"Is this what you're looking for?" she asked triumphantly as she pulled out and showed the soldering iron to Andrew.

"Yeah…I must have missed that." Andrew replied sheepishly as he moved to Sharon and took the item from her hands.

"Com'on let's get back to the others." Sharon said shaking her head as Andrew and her exited the room back into the hall.

They were back in the hall and Sharon no longer heard the banging or swearing from down the hall. She thought she could see Tamara in the shadows. It looked like she was coming closer.

"Tamara…were you able to get the water?" Sharon asked.

There was no response as she appeared to be coming slowly closer to them.

"Something's not right…" Andrew muttered.

Sharon wasn't going to argue with him as she could feel a cold chill crawling up her back. Something was definitely wrong as Tamara seemed to be suddenly taller and moving strangely. That's when the light caught Tamara's lifeless face.

The moment seemed to slow down for Sharon and Andrew as Tamara's body came further into the light and they saw the huge sword blade sticking through her body — dripping with blood. They were both frozen as they saw the person that was holding the blade protruding through Tamara. Their hearts were racing hard as they saw the familiar black clothing with the priest's collar. The man's face was good looking yet it was filled with a malevolent and spiteful look as it held the dead body of the Potential in front of him leaving a bloody trail in the hall.

"They say that Rock n' Roll is the devil's music…! Well I say let the music play!" the man said with a southern-tinged accent and a grisly twisted smile on his face.


	11. Going from bad to worse…

**CHAPTER ELEVEN:**

**Going from bad to worse…**

Coleiro was sitting in the command cabin of the dropship. He had a communications headset on and was listening to the latest update from Watcher-One that was already in orbit around the planet. The flight commander of Watcher-One was providing an update on what his communications specialists had discovered about the communication and detection systems used on Earth. As the Captain listened to the update, he felt tired and a headache coming on.

Watcher-One had detected not only a whole military communications and radar network, but also a huge civilian network as well. This wasn't something that Coleiro had been expecting on the planet, but then again his Earth and Tirol had only a small fraction of the population size that they found here. From the information being provided there was an extensive civilian air transport network and the realization hit him like a hammer that if they jammed all communications and radar like he'd planned they would not only be taking out the military network, but they would be taking out the civilian network as well. It didn't take much imagination to realize the havoc that would be raised and the lives put at risk by going with his plan to jam all communications and radar across the whole North American continent.

_God…I wish that Commodore Lau was here… She would have come up with a better plan_, he thought painfully.

He realized that this mission had been thrown together hastily and that they were making things up on the fly. He had to make a decision as there were lives at stake and he had to balance off between his people's lives and those on the planet.

Coleiro could almost hear Sonia's voice chiding him that he was acting like a first year academy plebe in how he'd rushed into this rescue mission.

_I'm tired…I'm tired of it all. Why am I doing this? I can't save them all. The Chief is right, I need a rest_, he thought feeling the exhaustion weigh on him.

Again he could almost hear Sonia's voice, _You're better than this. You're in command…you're responsible for these people. You can't just go blasting around the stars acting like you're still twenty without any cares or worries. This is your plan and you have to see it through. You always find a way…_

He took a deep breath as memories he'd kept locked away in his mind came back and he felt the old pain well up.

Coleiro took another deep breath and gave his mind a mental shake to focus on what he needed to do. He keyed the com channel to speak, "Watcher-One, can you sort out and identify the military and civilian bands for both communications and radar?"

There was a pause and the commander of Watcher-One responded, "It would take maybe an hour…maybe two at the most for the computer to finish identifying and cataloging all the frequencies, but we should be able to blanket those channels. The only problem is that the military could switchover and use those civie channels to communicate on and their response could recover faster."

"Understood. What about their radar?"

"That's going to be trickier as a lot of their radars use the same bands…it may be an all or nothing." Watcher-One replied.

Coleiro tried not to sigh over the open communications channel. He took a moment to again consider his options, "Watcher-Two…Three, you copying all this?"

"Yes, sir." came the near unison replies from the commanders of the other two shuttles.

"Okay…the plan now is for Watcher-One to sort out and identify all military and civilian communication channels and frequencies. We will still go with a full jam on the military channels and leave civilian communications alone…for now."

"What about radar?" Watcher-Two asked.

"We have no choice. We still have to take out their radar, hopefully we can minimize any impact by leaving civilian coms up." Coleiro replied knowing that it was a risk, but he wasn't going to leave one of his people behind.

"One other update to our operations plan. Before I undock from Pelican-One and we begin our jamming, Watcher's Two and Three, you will launch your drones to enter the atmosphere. They should pick up those drones as they are designed to emit a large radar and heat signature. They'll see them start to do a re-entry and then we hit them with the jammers. That should cause more confusion to allow Pelican-One and myself to re-enter unobserved as they should be focused and direct their attention and response on the drones' last known reported position. Any questions?"

The commanders of all three shuttles responded, "No, sir."

"Okay…Watcher-One get to work. Co-ordinate with Watcher-Two and Three. We're…" Coleiro paused to talk to the dropship pilot to confirm their ETA, "…we're estimated six hours and forty-five minutes out at our current speed to minimize our signature and avoid detection. Watcher-One I want an update on your status in two hours."

"Understood, sir"

Coleiro cut the com channel and decided to head back to the Cyclone infantry bay and crawl into one of the racks and close his eyes for some rest. He tried to think of what else could go wrong and how they would adjust the mission. He managed to push away memories of Sonia as he closed his eyes. As he tried to rest, he had one continuing nagging thought bouncing around his head.

_I hope that I just haven't started a war with Earth…_

**oOoOo**

Cassie didn't think as a bone chilling scream of terror reverberated through the building. She just reacted as she grabbed her Gallant and was out the door into the hallway, leaving a stunned Willow behind her. Cassie was quickly joined by Buffy and Faith. She saw the faces on the Slayers and immediately knew that things were bad. Giles, Xander and the rest of the group came following quickly on their heels.

"Who's missing?" Giles said as he quickly looked over the assembled group.

Everyone was milling around in the hallway and Cassie was getting a bad feeling as she watched Buffy and Faith looking anxiously in all directions.

"I don't see Andrew." Xander said as he scanned over the people gathered.

"Tamara and Sharon aren't here either!" spoke up one of the Potentials.

Buffy knew that something bad was happening and she didn't want to have everyone standing around inside, "Giles…you, Xander and Robin take everyone outside!"

Xander was about to argue, when they heard a noise coming from down the dark hallway. Everyone turned to face the threat. Cassie dropped into a firing stance and had her Gallant, which was in rifle mode, up against her shoulder and she was aiming her weapon into the darkness. She could feel her heart pounding faster and she tried to take deep breaths to calm herself.

They all heard a scuffling noise coming closer quickly. Cassie got ready to squeeze the trigger on her weapon.

"CASSIE DON'T SHOOT!" Buffy shouted.

Cassie eased her trigger finger at the shout. Her eyes widened in shock as Andrew came stumbling out of the dark shadows covered in blood. He staggered and fell, Buffy and Faith rushed forward to grab him while Cassie covered them. The two Slayers grabbed an obviously in shock Andrew and dragged him back to the others quickly.

"Where're you hurt?" Buffy asked Andrew as she started to look him over.

He didn't respond as he laid on the floor leaning against the wall. His body was shaking and his eyes were wide open in shock and terror.

"Snap out of it! Where're you hurt?" Buffy asked again as she continued checking for wounds.

"Buffy…I don't think that's his blood." Xander said as he looked over Andrew.

Buffy tried to push down the images that came to her mind. She knew the answers before she asked the questions but she still asked, "Where are the others? Who did this?"

Andrew was still shaking and his eyes were out of focus, staring past Buffy. She didn't have time to waste. She slapped Andrew in the face and his eyes seemed to refocus and looked at Buffy as if seeing her for the first time.

"Andrew…where are the others? Who did this?" Buffy asked again in a firm tone trying to get him to focus on her. She could see that he was trying hard to get control of himself and speak.

"TTTTTaaaammmaaarrr…"

"Yeah, Tamara and Sharon?"

"DDDDDeeeaaaddd…"

Buffy's face got a hard look as she took in the news that two more Potentials were dead, "Who did it?"

Andrew was trying to fight through his shock and terror as the images of what he'd seen continued to overwhelm him. He couldn't stop his body from shaking. He tried to focus on Buffy's voice but the images kept assaulting him. He knew that the human body held a lot of blood from when he'd murdered Jonathan, but what he'd seen Caleb do to Tamara's body and then Sharon was beyond all description. He could hear a little voice in his head telling him that if he just curled up it would all go away and everything would be alright, but he tried to push away that feigned mirage of safety as he knew that things were not going to be alright and he needed to tell Buffy.

"CCCCCCaaaallllleeeeeebbbbb…" Andrew managed to stutter out.

Buffy's worse fears were coming true. She turned to Xander and Giles, "Get him and the others out of here now! Take everyone back to the house," Buffy looked at Faith and over at Cassie who was still aiming her weapon down the dark hallway, "Faith, Cassie and I will cover you. We still have enough daylight to get home."

"Buffy—" Xander started to say.

She cut him off, "Don't argue! Get moving!" she ordered in a hard voice.

Xander was about to argue with her, when a loud voice came out of the shadows from down the hall. He felt his dead eye socket ache as he recognized the voice.

"Don't rush off on my account. We're just getting started and it would be a shame for you all to leave. My…associates are really interested in your new friend. They're wondering if her blood looks and tastes the same as yours."

Buffy slapped Xander on the shoulder to get him to snap out of it, "Get everyone moving now!" she said as she stood up and moved over to stand by where Cassie was, Faith followed her over.

Cassie heard the taunting voice and she had to focus on her breathing. She pushed away the image of Andrew covered in blood as she kept her attention down the hallway. She was tempted to open up with Gallant, but with only one spare energy clip for the Gallant in rifle mode, she had to be pick her targets.

Cassie heard the group starting to move away from her, she saw Faith and Buffy move up beside her out of the corner of her eye. She kept scanning the shadows down the hallway for movement. She thought she could hear noises — almost like low growls — from the darkness and it sounded like it was getting closer.

_Damn it! We just needed some more time!_

Cassie was suddenly hit with the realization, _Damn it! The beacon!_

Cassie turned her head and looked behind her. She saw Willow moving with the others, "Willow! Grab the beacon! We still need it!" she shouted.

Willow stopped and turned at hearing her name. As what Cassie was saying sank in, she could have slapped her head for being so forgetful — leaving the beacon in the control room. She quickly turned around and rushed back to the room the grab it.

Cassie felt some relief seeing Willow rush back to retrieve the beacon, but in that moment of being distracted, that's when she heard the growling get louder and heard running feet rushing towards her.

"HERE THEY COME!" Buffy shouted.

Cassie whipped her head back around and in the lowlight she saw the shapes rushing towards her and the Slayers. She'd thought she'd been horrified enough already, but when she caught a glimpse of the faces of the creatures rushing towards her, she felt fear stab at her. She'd never seen creatures like this before. She'd seen aliens before, but these creatures rushing her aroused an almost instinctual fear in her. She recovered and pulled the trigger on her Gallant aiming for the closest creature.

Buffy and Faith both jumped in surprise as Cassie opened fire. They had braced themselves for the charging Turok-Hans, they expected Cassie to fire, but the weapon Cassie was using in rifle mode now was louder and brighter when it fired.

Energized particle beams lit up the hallway like a lightning storm. Beams struck the first charging Turok-Han. Cassie's aim was true as she struck the vampire directly in chest. The particle beams were designed to burn through Invid armor and the vampire skin was no match as the beams burned right through ripping huge holes in its chest and vaporizing the heart which caused the vampire to instantly turn to dust.

Cassie had already moved on to the next target and fired more bursts catching another vampire, but there were more coming and they were moving fast. Some of vampires were so quick they were dodging her blasts, but she compensated and would catch them with another blast either sending them staggering from the hit or turning them to dust.

Willow had raced back into the room and frantically looked for the beacon. She could hear the roars of the Turok-Hans and the blasts from Cassie's weapon. She didn't know if she or the others would make it back outside and back to the house. Willow looked at the beacon, Cassie had shown her how it worked and told her what the code was. Willow quickly pressed the buttons and turned on the beacon.

**oOoOo**

Communications specialist Emily Nagata was manning her station on Watcher-One. She'd been working with the ship's computer system to monitor and tag all the military communication channels on the North American continent. She was young like the rest of the technicians, but she was well trained and highly competent in doing her job, so when she saw a signal start flashing on the emergency channel, she didn't hesitate.

Emily quickly used her monitoring systems to start tracking the beacon to determine its location and also opened a communications channel, while signaling her commander what was happening with her hands.

"Viper-12 this is Watcher-One, we read your signal five by five. Do you read me Viper-12?"

Emily waited anxiously for a reply back, but what she got even surprised her.

"HHHello? Is anyone there?"

Nagata's eyes widened in surprise as she heard the voice. She could also hear the sounds of energy weapons fire in the background and she heard other noises. She wasn't sure, but she thought she heard animals growling.

"Viper-12 this is Watcher-One what's your status?"

"Whoever you are, we need your help!"

"Viper-12 please use proper radio procedures."

"Oh you want Cassie…I mean Lieutenant Evans. My name is Willow."

Nagata was now really confused, but she heard the tone in this Willow's voice and heard the weapon's fire and she got a bad feeling, "Where's Viper-12? Are you under attack?"

"We need—"

Emily heard the voice cut off in mid-sentence and that was never a good sign.

"Viper-12…Viper-12…Willow…is anyone there?" she kept calling getting more anxious and worried at the silence on the com channel.

Finally in desperation, she wanted to give the voice on the other end some hope, "Viper-12…Willow…hold on! Help is on the way!"

**oOoOo**

Willow had been shocked by the voice talking to her and she found herself, at first, at a loss for words, but then she realized it was Cassie's people on the other end. She wanted to let them know how desperate the situation was down here. She was about to explain their situation when a Turok-Han came crashing through the wall into the control room. In her surprise and shock, Willow dropped the beacon and she stumbled for the door. She didn't know if she was going to live as the vampire lunged for her, but she felt a hand grab her by the shoulder and roughly pulled her into the hall. Willow found herself looking at Faith.

"Thanks!" Willow said in appreciation.

"Save it Red! Get moving!" Faith said roughly as she pushed the Wiccan down the hall towards the exit.

Willow ran for the exit stopping at the door. She turned saw Buffy and Faith fighting several of the vampires that had dodged Cassie's weapon's fire. Cassie was moving back slowly to the exit selecting her shots and firing.

"BUFFY!" Willow shouted.

Buffy managed to fight off a Turok-Han long enough to see that Willow had made it to the exit, "CASSIE! FAITH! TIME TO LEAVE!"

The three women turned and ran for the exit, Cassie turned and fired a couple a shots at the closest vampires causing them to dodge. All three women hit the door at a full run and burst out into the daylight.

They turned keeping an eye on the door as they caught their breaths. Cassie turned as she heard someone approach behind her and heard her name being called. She saw Willow move almost hesitantly closer with an upset look on her face.

"I…I…I'm so sorry!"

Cassie was confused, "What're you sorry about?"

Willow got a downcast look on her face, "I…I dropped the beacon when a vampire came through the wall."

"Damn it!" Cassie said somewhat loudly.

"I…I…I'm sorry!" Willow said quickly seeing how upset Cassie was.

Cassie shook her head, "I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at the situation. We need to get back in there to get the beacon so I can communicate with my people."

"I talked to them…"

Cassie's eyes shot wide open, "You what?!"

"I saw how bad the situation was and you showed me how to activate the beacon…and so I did." Willow said with a slight sheepish look on her face.

Cassie got excited, "You were able to talk to the Arcadia? How?"

Willow shook her head, "I don't think it was the Arcadia. They called themselves Watcher-One. I told them that we needed help, but before I could hear them or talk to them further…well then I ended up dropping the beacon."

"What does it mean?" Buffy asked as she overheard what Willow was explaining.

Cassie shook her head, "I'm not sure, but it looks like they put a ship closer to the planet to pick up my signals," she looked at Willow, "Was the beacon still on and transmitting when you dropped it?"

Willow shook her head somewhat hesitantly, "I don't know. I think so as I was trying to talk to them when the Turok-Han came through the wall."

Cassie sighed looking back at the door to the radio station and then the charge level on her Gallant.

"Will your people come?" Giles asked as he picked up on what was happening.

"If they had a ship in orbit and they know what they're doing, they should have gotten a lock on the beacon. The only problem is that we don't have the beacon anymore." Cassie replied.

"The only problem?" Xander replied in his usual sarcastic tone.

Cassie couldn't help smiling, "Okay…not the only problem. Like number two or three on a long list of problems." she said playing along and getting a grin from him.

"So if we don't have the beacon, does that prevent your people from coming down?" Buffy asked.

"No…they should have a lock on the general area. It may just make it harder to find where I…we are."

Faith interjected herself into the discussion, "Whatever's happening, we need to start hoofing it back to Buffy's. The sun will start going down in a couple of hours and they'll…" Faith said leaning her head to the radio station, "…probably be coming for us."

"Yeah…we need to get ready." Buffy said with a look on her face.

Giles, Xander and Willow immediately picked up on the look on Buffy's face.

"I know that look Buffy, what do you have planned?" Willow said.

"Well…I have an idea." she said with a grim look on her face.

**oOoOo**

A dark human figure moved through the radio station. His feet kicked up the dust from those Turk-Hans that had been killed as he walked down the hallway. He barely gazed at those vampires that had managed to survive that strange weapon's beams though he could hear them howl and growl in pain.

His plan hadn't turned out exactly as he'd hoped, but whatever those damned girls had planned he'd managed to at least prevent it. He'd hoped to kill more of the Potentials or that alien with the strange weapon that had caused so much damage.

"Tonight...we'll make things right." Caleb muttered as he looked at the damage and chaos around him.

Some of the vampires heard what Caleb had said and they growled in agreement at the thought of feeding on the Slayers and Potentials.

Caleb was lost in his thoughts as he stepped through the huge hole in the wall into the control room. He didn't completely understand what those women were doing here, but it didn't really matter as all those bitches would be dead soon. He had a smirk on his face as he thought of all the things he would do to them. He especially looked forward to savouring the moments toying with both Slayers before killing them. He wanted them to see everyone else suffer and die first before he ended them.

His thoughts were interrupted as he heard a faint voice from underneath some debris. He bent down and cleared away the debris and saw a strange looking device that looked like a handheld radio, but it was bigger and had a keypad on it. He studied it for a moment, but it was the voice that was coming from it that caused him some discomfort as it portended to problems with his plans.

_"Viper-12…Willow…hold on! Help is on the way! Repeat…hold on! We have a SAR team on route…"_

Caleb listened as the voice repeated and felt his anger grow. He steeled his resolve and pushed any growing doubts out of his head as he crushed the device in his hand cutting off the voice in mid-sentence as it repeated its message.

**oOoOo**

"Sir? Captain?"

Captain Coleiro woke to the face of Sergeant Bronowski gently shaking him awake. He hadn't realized that he'd fallen that deep asleep and it took him a moment to clear his mind and wake up. The Captain stretched and yawned as the Sergeant stood back.

"Been two hours already Sergeant?"

Coleiro got a bad feeling as he saw Bronowski shake his head, "No, sir. We got an alert message from Watcher-One. They want you in the command cabin."

Coleiro was immediately awake and pushed himself out of the rack and made his way past the Sergeant to the dropship's command module. He didn't say much to the crew as he took the headset and put it on.

"Watcher-One…Reaper-One here. What's your SITREP?"

Watcher-One immediately responded, "Sir, we picked up Viper-12's beacon less than fifteen minutes ago."

"Were you able to get a lock on her location?"

"Yes, sir. We have a lock on her location…" Watcher-One replied in a guarded tone.

Coleiro got a bad feeling as he heard the tone in Watcher-One's voice, "What's the problem?"

"Sir, Viper-12 wasn't on the channel and our comms specialist reported hearing weapons fire over the open channel… Sir, you need to hear this."

The Captain listened to a replay recording of the communications traffic and he became even more awake as he listened to the voices and background noises. He could have sworn he'd heard animals growling.

"Is that all there is?" he asked.

"Yes, sir. The channel appeared to have been left open and we kept broadcasting seeing if anyone would respond, but the signal was terminated about five minutes ago."

"But we have a location now?"

"Yes, sir… We've tapped into the civilian communications network. There is a global database of information accessed through something called the Internet. We have determined that Viper-12's beacon was transmitting from a town called Sunnydale located in the state of California on the West coast of the continent."

"Any information on the layout of the geography and town? Anywhere that we can use for an LZ?"

"We're just shifting orbit to use our optical and passive sensors to scan the area. We'll update as soon as we have more info."

"Understood. Inform me immediately of any changes or if Viper-12 or this Willow broadcasts again. Find me a LZ."

"Yes, sir!" Watcher-One said as he cut the channel.

Coleiro looked at the dropship pilot, "How long would it take us to get to the planet if we increased to full speed?"

The pilot and co-pilot weren't completely unprepared for the request, but they were still a little shocked. The pilot took a moment to think it and do some quick calculations, "If we go to full speed…we can be there in just over two hours, but we'll be lit up like a Christmas tree from our heat signature and approach speed. There's no way that they won't be able to see us."

Coleiro took a moment to consider the implications. They could continue at their current speed and they take over five hours to just get to their orbital re-entry point, but it was evident from the communications that Lieutenant Evans was in trouble — if she was even still alive. If they increased speed they would get to Earth faster, but they would most likely be detected before they even got close which would alert the continental defenses. He had one more option — he could call off the rescue mission and turn around — but that was only a fleeting thought as he would never abandon anyone if there was still a chance.

_What we need is some cover to get us in closer, before we're detected and we can't make it look like jamming…has to be something natural…_

A smirk came to the Captain's face and for a moment the dropship pilot and co-pilot had thought that the Captain had lost it.

Coleiro opened a com channel, "Watcher's Two and Three are you on the channel…over?"

The Captain heard their replies and outlined his idea, "Can you use your systems to generate noise…make it look like background radiation to diffuse any radar signals coming our way?"

There was a long pause and then Watcher-Two replied, "Uh…yes, sir. I think I know where you're going with this. We could create something that could be mistaken for cosmic radiation, but it will only partially diffuse the radar signal…they would get some return signal, but it would be faint and indistinguishable at this range, but as we get closer to the planet their signal would be stronger and would start to give them a harder return especially if we are running at full speeds. They would be able to see us with optical systems…there's nothing we can do about that."

"I understand…we just need to create doubt and hesitation long enough to get close enough to launch our drones and then start the jamming before our re-entry."

"Sir if I may suggest…we can go to full thruster burn, gain our speed and then cut our thrusters using our built up momentum. That should get us in closer and we won't be a huge beacon for any thermal-imaging systems they have." Watcher-Three offered up.

"Sounds good. How close do you think we can get before we set off alarms?"

"Hard to say sir. We could get within thirty minutes before they see through our noise…no more than twenty minutes at best."

Coleiro gave it some thought. Considering the situation he could live with what Watcher-Three was giving him.

"Understood…Watcher's Two and Three, co-ordinate with Pelican-One on formation, approach vector and when to go to full thrusters and then shutdown. Get us there. Understood?"

Both shuttle commanders replied their affirmatives.

The Captain left the piloting of the dropship to its crew. He went back to the Cyclone Infantry bay to brief Sergeant Bronowski and his ground team on the current situation and that they were most likely heading into a hot LZ.


	12. It's show time…

**CHAPTER TWELVE:**

**It's show time…**

Buffy and the others made it back to the house with no further incident. Dawn and Spike were quickly brought up to speed on the situation — with Spike keeping his sarcastic comments at a minimum especially after seeing Andrew's condition. Willow and Dawn took care of and cleaned up Andrew, who was still in shock. Anya was up and moving around, she seemed a lot calmer and in a better frame of mind though she seemed to project an underlying feeling of anger. Xander decided to try and use the time they had to talk things out with her and try and make things right with them.

Cassie kept her distance as she watched Anya and Xander from inside the house as they talked outside in the backyard. She couldn't help still feeling guilty about the trouble she'd caused between the two, but at the same time she was finding it hard to deny her attraction to Xander. She decided to keep her distance for now as she didn't want to be the cause of any further problems.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice behind her, "Huh? Sorry," she said with a distracted voice as she turned to face the voice.

A small smile came to Buffy's face as she saw how distracted Cassie was watching Xander outside. She was no dummy and had seen the chemistry and connection between the two. She'd always known that Xander had a thing for Slayers — she knew of his feelings toward her and of his one-night stand with Faith. Buffy had seen enough of Cassie to get to know her and could see the strength and confidence that she projected and could see why Xander was attracted to her with the added bonus that she didn't have all the Slayer baggage. There were on occasions, when a little voice in the back of her head would whisper to her to find out what it would be like to be with Xander, but despite the temptation she didn't want to risk ruining her friendship with Xander — that meant too much to her to chance ruining. Buffy knew — along with Faith — that they both seemed cursed in regards to long term relationships in finding the right guy that could — and would — deal with all the baggage that came with them being a Slayer.

_Maybe Faith has the right idea…one night stands are the way to go and avoid the complications and heartbreak_, Buffy thought wistfully, as she glanced over at Faith, recalling all her attempted relationships and how they had ended. Her current on again off again trysts with Spike seemed to be about the right speed she was looking for right now.

"How many shots you got left in that gun of yours?" Buffy asked while pushing thoughts about relationships aside for the moment as she focused on what they needed to do to get ready for when the sun went down.

"I've got about five shots with this current energy clip and one full clip with forty-eight shots. Then I got two clips to use in side-arm mode. If I leave the barrel extension on, make it just over forty shots." Cassie replied.

"When the sun goes down…they'll be coming for us." Faith said in a matter of fact tone.

Cassie turned and looked out the window at Xander and she felt a sadness well up in her, "Yeah…I know." she said as she turned back to look at Buffy and Faith, "Do either one of you have a plan?"

"I don't know how many of those Bringers and vampires we'll be facing, but I think we make our stand here first." Buffy replied.

Cassie gave it some thought, "Agreed…if we can channel them through one opening we might be able to hold them off or contain them, but—"

"What do we do if we can't hold them back?" Buffy said finishing off Cassie's thoughts.

"Yeah." Cassis said nodding.

"If we're going to go down then I say we take the fight to them and use some of those gasoline bombs." Faith suggested.

Buffy nodded, "My thoughts exactly. We try and hold them off inside as long as possible and then take the fight outside. We put Cassie in the middle with her gun to take out the vamps. We have the Potentials around her to toss gas bombs…Giles, Spike, Xander, Robin to cover them and you…" Buffy said looking directly at Faith, "…and I take the outside to take out as many of them as possible before they get closer to the others."

Cassie picked up on what Buffy wanted to do, "Sounds like a plan, but what if we pick our area where we want to make our stand after here and we prepare it ahead of time."

Buffy and Faith were both curious by what Cassie proposed, "What do you have in mind?" Buffy asked.

"We put some cars with full gas tanks in certain spots and when we get rushed, one or two well-placed shots set them off and we stock some gas bombs in the area as it saves us having to carry them with us. While we get that area ready, the others get the house ready by barricading all the openings except for the front door. We use that as our choke point and we fall back to the upstairs and exit out a second floor window to the ground."

"Why not use the back door?" Faith asked.

"If we leave the back door too weak, then we have to cover it as well and divide our forces and we don't want to waste time having to unbarricade the door when we want to leave. We won't need to have everyone on the main floor."

Buffy looked at Faith, "What do you think?" she asked.

Faith shrugged, "It's your house B. I'll let you make the call."

Buffy didn't waste any time, "Okay let's get started then. Let's get the others and tell them the plan and get ready."

**oOoOo**

Coleiro checked his Alpha's systems for the umpteenth time as the dropship began its orbital approach towards the planet and he prepared to undock his fighter.

"Watcher-Two…Watcher-Three time to split off. Prepare to launch your drones when you reach your stations."

"That's a roger Reaper-One." both shuttles replied in unison.

"Watcher-One, you getting any activity on our LZ?"

"No, sir. Still quiet…no emissions coming from the airport. We're picking up some power signatures and some faint life signs from the town, but you should be clear for the airport."

Coleiro was still surprised that they were able to use the airport near the town. He still couldn't believe that a town was nearly devoid of life and energy signatures and emissions.

_Maybe it has something to do with what Evans is encountering?_

He'd been hesitant to use the airport as his LZ, but it was showing no traffic or any signs of life and that would give the Horizont and his Alpha a good surface to put down and also take off from. The airport was an estimated fifteen kilometers from the city center, which put them closer to the last known location of the distress beacon than any of the other possible LZ's. Sergeant Bronowski and his team were ready and going to treat the LZ as hot. They had their orders to drive back anything that could interfere with the retrieval and if they were attacked they were authorized to use extreme force which they were more than ready to do. The Sergeant was a fervent believer in superior firepower and had outfitted his team with as much firepower as they could carry.

Coleiro's attention was brought back into the moment as both Watcher-Two and Three came back on the channel.

"Reaching drone launch point in ten…nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…one. Drones away!"

Coleiro took a deep breath as he knew that they were now committed. He got ready to disengage his Alpha from the dropship once the jamming began.

**oOoOo**

The Secretary of Defense, followed closely behind by General Coulson, entered the command center. The SECDEF was shocked as he heard an undercurrent tone of panic in the voices from the personal manning the different consoles and stations. He made his way over to the central command station, the senior officer in charge immediately stood as the SECDEF approached.

"What's going on General?"

"Sir, about twenty-five minutes ago, deep space radar picked up a group of objects on a high speed trajectory approach for Earth." the General replied trying to stay calm.

"How many and why didn't we pick them up sooner!?"

"Sir, the objects were being masked by what we thought was normal background cosmic radiation, but as they got closer we were able to get a better signature profile. We estimate at least three objects and the largest is about 200 feet long."

"Could they be asteroids?" General Coulson asked.

"No, their speed and approach vector says that they are trying for orbit. We're using optical and thermal-imaging systems to try and get a better look at the objects. The lines are smooth and contoured. They look more artificial than natural occurring objects.

"How long before they achieve orbit?" the SECDEF asked worriedly.

"Five, maybe ten minutes at the most, sir."

"I need to speak to the President!" the SECDEF said trying and failing to control the tone of worry and fear in his voice.

**oOoOo**

Buffy and the others were unaware of the approaching storm that was coming towards the planet and them as they had their own immediate problems to deal with. They had rushed to barricade all the windows and back door in the house. They reinforced the front door, but the plan was to draw the Bringers and vampires through the door to cut down their numbers. Cassie wished that they had a better idea of the enemy force strength they faced, but it was impossible to get an accurate idea as to the numbers they faced.

Everyone had worked hard to get everything in place for what appeared to be their final stand. The plan was to hold out as long as possible in the house and then fight their way out. Buffy had planned that they make their final stand a few blocks from the Hellmouth. It was a wide open area that would give Cassie a good line of sight to use her weapon to get clean shots at their enemy. She'd planned on using her weapon in side-arm mode inside the house and then switchover to rifle mode at their final position. She had taken the time to show Xander, Giles, Robin and several others how to use the weapon in the different modes in the event of something happening to her.

The sun was just beginning to set and Cassie found a quiet spot in the living room and sat on the floor with her back leaning against the wall. She rested there with her eyes closed and tried to push the images of those creatures with no eyes and those vampires from her mind for just a moment. She tried to go over the plan they had come up with. It wasn't the greatest, but considering the situation, the numbers they faced off against and the resources they had, there wasn't much more they could do.

"Cassie?"

Cassie thoughts were interrupted and she opened her eyes and looked up as she heard her name and instantly recognized the voice.

"Hey." she said.

Xander moved and sat down on the floor next to Cassie, "How you doing?" he asked.

Cassie sighed as she looked into Xander's face. She had faced combat before and she knew what was expected of her. But this was different than anything she'd been prepared and trained for, "To be honest, I'm nervous and scared."

Xander grinned at seeing Cassie's honesty, "Then I'm in good company."

Cassie gave him a sad smile. She hesitated for a moment, but she realized that they were running out of time and she reached out and took Xander's hand in hers.

"I…I saw you and Anya talking. I hope she's feeling better. I…I want to say I'm sorry again for causing problems between you two…" Cassie wanted to say more, but she found herself even more nervous and scared to say what she was feeling at this moment.

"What went on and is going on between Anya and me is not your fault or problem. We talked and she's feeling a bit better, but as with everything else it will take time…"

There was a moment where the two of them looked at each other. Xander had lost count of how many apocalypses he, Buffy and the others had gone through. Each one had been different and he had been scared each time, but this time it was different. He looked at Cassie and he found himself feeling a deep regret that they hadn't had more time. He knew that she was a trained soldier, but he wished he could carry her off or send her somewhere safe and out of harm's way. He looked deep into her eyes and he felt his heart beat faster. He didn't say anything as he touched and caressed her face gently with his free hand. Time seemed to slow down and he became very aware of his surroundings as he leaned in and kissed Cassie gently on the lips. She felt his touch and she eagerly responded to his kiss. The kiss seem to last a long time and they slowly pulled away from each other.

"I…I wish…" Cassie started to say.

"I know. I wish we had more time." Xander replied with a sad smile. He leaned in and kissed Cassie again.

Any further thoughts and desires were interrupted as Buffy came into the living room. She'd seen Xander and Cassie kissing and her first thought was to turn around and give them some more alone time, but they had all run out of time, "The sun's gone down. Looks like Bringers are going to try for us first." she said pushing any thoughts and feelings about interrupting the couple and focusing on what was most likely going to be their final fight.

**oOoOo**

The anxiety level ratcheted up to higher levels as suddenly a voice cried out from one of the monitoring stations.

"Sir! Space Command is reporting that they have detected six unidentified bogies have started entering the atmosphere!"

The General in charge turned to towards the airman manning the station, "Where the hell did they come from?!"

"Unknown sir, they just popped up on our screens. They're giving off a huge signature!"

"Where will they be coming down?"

The airman was having a hard time controlling the panic in his voice, "They're coming down over the Eastern seaboard…computer estimates their trajectory somewhere between Boston and Norfolk. They should be over the East coast in an estimated twelve minutes!"

The General was trying to control his panic and sweating when another voice shouted out.

"Sir! Six more targets entering the atmosphere over the Gulf of Mexico. They will cross somewhere between New Orleans and Galveston!"

"Jesus…" muttered the General.

The SECDEF approached the General. They could see the computer tracking the incoming unidentified objects. They were giving off a strong radar return and there was no doubt that these objects were aimed for the United States.

The General didn't waver as he looked at the SECDEF, "Mr. Secretary, it is my opinion that we are under attack. We already have fighters in the air. We should have them intercept and if these 'people' don't respond peacefully or land, we should force them down."

The SECDEF looked at the giant screen showing all the targets that had been detected and plotted. He found it strange that he might be giving the order to start an interplanetary war and he paused for a second to consider if maybe they should try communicating. Any further thoughts were quickly interrupted as the giant display screen along with all the other computer screens in the room suddenly went blank and were replaced with static.

**oOoOo**

"What's the status on jamming?"

"We've got them blind and deaf, sir." Watcher-Two replied with a chuckle.

"How long before they burn through the jamming?"

"We've started the clock…we estimate no more than 120 minutes. We may be able to buy you a few more minutes, but they're rotating through frequencies quickly."

"Pelican-One…you copy that?"

"We copy that Reaper-One."

"It's show time folks." Coleiro said sounding like he was barely awake.

The Alpha quickly undocked from the Horizont and both craft started their approach runs for re-entry down to the planet. It wasn't long before the plasma from the heat of re-entry started streaming off the heat shields of the craft.

**oOoOo**

The atmosphere in the command center had taken on an almost frenzied panic as technicians moved between stations and voices were raised in frustration as non-coms and officers barked out orders and for updates. While all the workstations in the command center were useless, a television mounted on one far wall was still broadcasting a news report. The SECDEF and General Coulson were standing there watching the latest broadcast.

_"This just in…we are receiving reports that airports across the United States…in fact across the whole continent are reporting that they have lost their air traffic control radar. This has thrown the whole air traffic system into chaos, but the FAA report that airports still have radio communications and have implemented emergency protocols to deal with this type of emergency…"_

The SECDEF shook his head as if he was trying to wake up from a bad dream.

_"We have unconfirmed reports that military communications have also been affected by this disruption. Currently there has been no official word from the White House in regards to the situation. The Pentagon has released a brief statement saying that problems were being caused by increased solar activity, but when we followed up with several observatories they are reporting no solar flares or storms at this time. NASA and JPL have refused comment at this time…"_

The SECDEF turned to Coulson, "The White House is screaming to know what the hell is going on and all I can tell them is that we were tracking twelve unidentified objects entering our atmosphere over the East and Gulf coasts." The SECDEF shook his head in frustration, "Sun spots! This was the best we could come up with to deal with any public panic."

"Well it's better than saying that we were tracking UFOs before we lost all our tracking systems." Coulson replied.

The SECDEF shuddered at the thought of the panic that would ensue if that information was made public.

The command center General approached both men with a grim look on his face.

"General, tell me you have something." the SECDEF asked hopefully.

The General shook his head grimly, "We've lost all radio, satellite communications and radar over the whole continent! It's all down…all we got is land line communications to our bases!"

The SECDEF knew the answer, but he had to ask the question, "Could this be a natural or technical problem?"

"No, sir! This is electronic warfare being conducted against our systems! We're being jammed on an unprecedented scale! It's like nothing we've ever seen before!"

"What about the objects that were being tracked? What about our jets?"

"We've tried switching our fighters over to civilian frequencies, but they're a mess as they try and deal with all the civilian air traffic. We've tried switching over to use Air Guard frequencies, but those are being jammed too! We have no radar to vector an intercept on those incoming targets and those fighters that we have been able to communicate with, through civilian frequencies, report that their attack radars are next to useless as they can't pick anything up. We can't even talk to the Navy ships deployed at sea."

"How wide spread is this? What about our oversea bases?"

"We can talk to our bases and we can exchange information over hard lines, but we have no idea what's happening in our air space and can't organize and direct our fighters in the air. Our overseas bases in the Pacific, Europe and Middle East report no problems or jamming…no sign of activity."

At the moment a Colonel came up to hand a paper to the General.

The SECDEF tried to maintain his patience, with the chaos surrounding and engulfing him, while the General read the paper.

The chaos continued and the SECDEF watched as technicians and officers struggled frantically to find out what had happened and fix it. The SECDEF couldn't hold his patience any longer, "What is it General?"

The General was shaking his head as he tried to understand and cope with the unraveling situation, "We have reports that the Russians and Chinese have both increased their alert status, they seem to know that something is going on with us…"

"What else?" the SECDEF asked.

"We've got an unconfirmed report from Hawaii. Pacific Command is saying they got a radio report from a freighter reporting two balls of fire over the Pacific heading for the West coast."

"Why didn't we see them before with the other targets?" the SECDEF asked shaking his head in confusion as he tried to come to grips on what was happening.

"The report just came in. The targets were spotted after the jamming started, sir."

"Scramble everything! Get the Air Force off the ground! I want those jets in the air!" the SECDEF ordered.

"Sir, we have no radar and we only have short range communications!"

"I don't care! I don't want them caught on the ground! Get AWACS in the air—"

"Sir, their radars are useless as well…they might be able to see targets if they get close enough!"

"That's better than having them sitting on the ground like sitting ducks!"

An aide interrupted the exchange, "Mr. Secretary…"

"Yes!"

"The President is on the line. He wants to speak to you."

The SECDEF took a deep breath as he wasn't looking forward to having to explain the situation to the Commander-in-Chief that the continent was blind and open to attack.

**oOoOo**

Cassie stood in the middle of the street and caught her breath. She was still amazed that her and the others were still alive and had made it this far. Their plan to create a choke point at the front door had worked beyond their expectations as her and the others had easily cut down the Bringers that tried rushing through the door. Cassie had emptied one energy clip and was on her last clip for her Gallant in side-arm mode when the Turok-Hans finally attacked the house.

When the vampires attacked the house, Buffy had used a gasoline bomb to set fire to the front door. As the vampires and Bringers milled around the front door, several Potentials had thrown out more gas bombs to create a wall of fire for everyone to drop down from the roof on the ground. Cassie had emptied the energy clip from her Gallant into both Bringers and Turok-Hans around the house as they made their breakout attempt to their spot to make their final stand. Giles had to urge both Dawn and Buffy to get moving as they had been both temporarily transfixed as they watched their house burn.

It had taken a few minutes of hard running to get away from the house. There had been some moments of concern that they would be pursued, but it appeared that their foe was also taking the time to regroup and recover from all the losses that had been inflicted on them.

Cassie had her Gallant switched to rifle mode and she scanned the darkness for any movement as she looked towards the abandoned cars they had earlier placed in specific areas. She could see that the Potentials had gathered up all the gas bombs and were ready to toss them when it was necessary. She gazed towards Xander and saw him standing with Dawn, Willow and Spike. Except for Spike they were all carrying swords. Cassie still found it strange that they were using swords rather than firearms to fight, but that was the way it was.

She found her mind jumping between a myriad of thoughts and feelings. She found herself thinking about kissing Xander and whether they would have a chance to do it again. She found herself thinking about her family on Tirol. She wondered if anyone would ever know what'd happened here and what they had done. Any further thoughts were suddenly cut-off as Buffy yelled out.

"GET READY HERE THEY COME!"

Cassie turned towards the direction that Buffy was pointing to and put her Gallant's sight on the abandoned car that was in that position. She aimed to the area where the gas tank was and took a couple of deep breaths. I t wasn't long when she saw movement in the darkness and saw apparitions come out of the darkest shadows rushing towards them. Cassie fired and the first shot hit true, catching the car's gas tank sending it up in a huge ball of flame catching the Bringers and vampires that were closest in flame and debris being hurdled out by the explosion.

She heard the roars and saw that the others were getting ready as more Bringers rushed in. She aimed and fired at the other vehicles, sending them up in huge explosions. She saw Potentials throwing lit gasoline bombs at the enemy ranks. It was a surreal situation for her as she was hyper-aware of her surroundings as she continually turned, trying to pick out the closest target and firing. The night was lit up by the flames from the gas bombs and her Gallant. There was the roar of the vampires filling the night. There seemed to be an unending supply of Bringers and vampires. It seemed that even the night sky was siding with their enemy as Cassie heard a faraway booming sound — like distant thunder roaring out — as everyone continued fighting desperately.

**oOoOo**

The SECDEF was standing looking at the displays and most of them were either displaying gibberish or static fuzz. He was replaying the conversation he'd just had with the President. The Joint Chiefs were counselling going to DEFCON 2. The SECDEF was leaning that way as well. The problem was that they had so little information to go on and by raising the DEFCON level, the Russians and Chinese would detect it and they would respond in kind.

The SECDEF's troubled thoughts were interrupted by a voice.

"Sir, I have a suggestion."

"What is it General Coulson?"

"I understand the stakes that are involved here and that the Chiefs probably want to go to DEFCON 2…"

"Yes."

"The Russians and Chinese will increase their alert level in response."

"Yes they will." the SECDEF replied.

"In the course of the missions and operations that my unit has been conducting, we have…umm…established contacts with other militaries around the world. I have contacts in the Russian and Chinese militaries I can call and let them know what's happening. They may be able to provide us intel or at least calm things down on their side."

The SECDEF heard what the General was offering, but he wasn't sure about going to the Russians or Chinese for help. Further thoughts were interrupted as an aide stepped in.

"Sir…we're just got a call in from Pacific Command. They have confirmed the earlier reports of fireballs over the Pacific."

"Any idea as to what they are and where they're headed?"

"They lost sight as they got lower in the atmosphere as they appeared to burn out, but they're estimating that the speed is in excess of Mach 2 and they're headed towards the West coast."

"What's being done?"

"Sir, radar and communications are still out. The Air Force and Air National Guard has been scrambled and they're trying to stack the fighters at different altitudes to cover the major population centers, but it's a nightmare as they're dealing with a lot of air traffic that's caught up in the mess and right now they're trying to get commercial jets and private planes down safely to clear the air space. They're setting down planes at the closest available fields. Air Combat Command wanted to run patrols off the coast but this jamming is making it impossible to organize those right now."

The SECDEF felt the weight of the world on his shoulders. He turned to Coulson, "Make the calls…let the Russians and Chinese know what's happening and if the shit hits the fan ask what support they can provide."

**oOoOo**

"Pelican-One, the LZ is clear. You can start your landing."

"Roger that Reaper-One, We have the field and you in visual. Beginning landing approach now."

Coleiro had his Alpha in Battloid mode and strode across the airfield. He had his sensors on full power and thermal vision engaged. He still found it eerie that there was no one around, but he wasn't going to argue as long as it stayed quiet.

It wasn't long before he saw the Horizont on his scanners on approach. He kept his guard up, scanning the area as the Horizont came in hard and fast and hit its retros to perform a hard brake landing on the airfield. It wasn't long before he saw Sergeant Bronowski and his security team, exiting the dropship. Coleiro stayed in Battloid mode while the Sergeant his team got their cyclones out and switched into Battloid mode and deployed to positions around the dropship.

Satisfied that the Sergeant and his team were in position, Coleiro hit his thrusters to launch his Battloid in the air. While hovering he switched his Alpha into fighter mode, deploying his landing gear and landing his ship in VTOL mode. The Captain got out quickly and accessed the module on his fighter that carried his Cyclone. In a matter of minutes the vehicle was on the ground and configured for riding.

As Coleiro settled on to the seat of his Cyclone, checking its systems out, Sergeant Bronowski came over to check in for any last minute orders or instructions.

"Okay Sergeant, You know what to do."

"Yes, sir. We'll make sure that things stay nice and quiet here while you're gone."

"Remember, if I'm not back in sixty minutes, you and your team will set a thirty minute demolition charge on my Alpha and then climb back aboard the dropship and take off. You'll hold at the predetermined docking altitude for no longer than the demolition charge is set for."

"But sir, we—"

"No buts Sergeant. I'm giving myself more than enough time to go out, find Evans and get back. If I don't get back in that time…that means I'm not making it back and I'm not leaving my Alpha behind. Understood?" the Captain said in a tone that stated this was an order that wouldn't be discussed any further.

"Yes, sir." Bronowski said coming to attention and saluting the Captain.

Coleiro nodded to the Sergeant and gave the throttle on his Cyclone a rev, causing the engine to roar louder. The Captain looked around the airfield and towards his Alpha. He noted the clock on the heads up display on his helmet visor, noting the timer counting down. Without any further delay, he roared off on his Cyclone heading towards the road exit in the fence and into the darkness towards his objective.


	13. Time to get the hell out of here

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN:**

**Time to get the hell out of here...**

General Coulson turned his back from the barely contained frenzied panic and chaos of the command center and looked at the huge display map on the wall showing the continental United States. Normally the map would have icons displayed and moving in real-time representing aircraft and ships deployed in and around the country, but it was currently frozen showing military units in their last known locations due to the jamming preventing incoming information from being processed.

Coulson frowned as he studied the map. There had been some garbled communications from the fighters launched to intercept the incoming UFOs. What could be made out through the interference was that the fighters hadn't encountered any targets over the East or South coasts. The fighters, they were able to contact, had been ordered to sweep their areas to locate and engage the targets. On the West coast fighter units had been launched but with civilian air traffic radar out, it was getting pretty hairy in the air, and the air force also found itself trying to assist civilian air traffic control in getting commercial and private planes on the ground.

As he continued to look at the map, he could hear the news announcer on a nearby television provide another update.

_"…with air traffic control radar out, there is chaos and panic in the skies over the continent as air traffic controllers and the FAA co-ordinate efforts to get all civilian aircraft landed safely. There have been numerous reports of near-miss mid-air collisions and there have been several crash landings near and at several airports around the country by commercial and private planes that had run out of fuel. Luckily there have been no fatalities reported so far, but there have been a number of serious injuries reported at a number of the crash sites. There have been reports of the Air Force scrambling fighters into the air, but spokespersons for the Pentagon are only saying that units of the Air Force and Air National Guard are being put into the air to assist with aircraft and help local authorities manage air traffic. Pentagon spokespersons are refusing to comment on reports that US military radio and satellite communications have been impacted by this event, but civilian radio operators are reporting increased use by military units on civilian radio channels. There was a report out of the United Kingdom that a number of objects were detected entering Earth's atmosphere headed towards the United States and that Air Force units were scrambled to intercept the objects just before air traffic radar went out, Pentagon spokespersons are refusing to comment on this report…"_

Coulson had a feeling that something else was going on beyond what they were seeing, but he just couldn't see or grasp it. He kept wondering what the other side's plan really was as he studied the map and went over all the information they had in his head.

**oOoOo**

Cassie fired another burst from her Gallant catching a vampire in its chest causing it to burst open with flames from the plasma energy igniting the flesh and just as quickly the vampire turned into another dust cloud. Fires lit up the night and the smoke from the burning cars added to the darkness as everyone continued to fight and try to stay alive until sunrise. So far the Bringers and Turok-Hans had rushed at the group from different directions in what seemed a disorganized and confused attack. Cassie was thankful that their enemy seemed disorganized in their rushes, because if it had been her, she would have attacked on all sides at the same time to overwhelm the defenders. The mix of Cassie's weapon, the fires from the burning cars and the gas bombs that were still being tossed kept their enemies off-balanced and this resulted in their disjointed attacks.

Cassie risked a glance and could see Xander out of the corner of her eye as he slashed with his sword at a Bringer that had tried rushing in closer. She quickly switched her attention back to her front as she caught movement coming toward her and saw it was another vampire rushing forward to fill the gap of the one she'd just dusted. This time, she was forced to fire a couple of bursts to take out the vampire as it moved quickly and she missed with her first shot. She'd seen Buffy and Faith moving faster than she thought was humanly possible to try and distract and stem the flood of vampires from overwhelming the group as they fought with a strength she didn't think possible. Cassie tried to provide cover for the Slayers when she had a clear shot. In the back of her mind she tracked how many shots she'd taken and tried not to dwell on the fact that she would be out of ammo soon.

**oOoOo**

Coleiro pulled over to the side of the road and had a view of the town in the distance, he glanced at the timer counting down on his helmet display and grimaced noting that he was running out of time to locate the downed pilot. He looked at the town again and it looked quiet from a distance — too quiet for his tastes which put his combat instincts on alert.

_If I was a downed pilot…where would I hold up?_

He had the co-ordinates of where they had last tracked Evans's rescue beacon up on his helmet display and he planned to start his search there. He glanced at the road to decide which approach to take into the town that would get him closer to his starting point as he was very aware of the timer still counting down.

_It would be nice if things went smoothly and quietly for a change._

The Captain was about to open a com channel to check-in with Sergeant Bronowski at the LZ, when he picked up something that seemed out of place in the deserted town. He felt his unease grow as from a distance it looked like something was on fire, he then caught bright flashes between the light of the apparent fires and darkness that looked very familiar — like a burst of an energy weapon firing.

Coleiro let out an exasperated sigh, cursing the fates for not giving him a break. He didn't hesitate as he put his Cyclone into gear roaring off in the direction of the fighting.

**oOoOo**

Faith was struggling to fight off a mixed crowed of vampires and Bringers that were trying to swarm her. She tried to draw most of them to her — the same as Buffy — which would allow the others a chance to take out individuals and not get swarmed. She saw a couple of the Turok-Hans get turned into instant dust as bright bolts of energy caught them either in the chest or back, burning through their bodies and taking out the heart. She gave a quick thought of thanks for Cassie and her fancy weapon as it was coming in handy, but she didn't know how long they could keep this up as more Turok Hans were swarming out of the high school and sunrise was hours away.

Cassie knew that at the rate she was firing she would drain her last energy clip in minutes. After that she would be forced to use the sword that Xander had insisted on giving her as a backup weapon. It was at that moment she caught a sound. It was a familiar sound and it was getting louder and closer.

Cassie may have been the first to hear it, but it was Faith who first saw what was making the sound. She didn't know what to make of the high pitch whine — which sounded like an engine. She managed to turn her head and her eyes widened in surprise as she saw what looked like a motorcycle coming roaring down the street towards them. She'd never heard or seen a motorcycle like that before — it looked like a high end racing bike, but there were two things that stood out differently about this bike. One — there appeared to be a large gun attached to the front wheel. Two — the rider's helmet visor was tinted and had a huge skull on the front of it and he was wearing strange riding gear that almost looked like body armor.

Cassie turned her head and immediately recognized the Cyclone roaring towards them and a sense of relief flooded her. She saw the driver's helmet and immediately recognized who the driver was as there was only one pilot in the REF that wore that design on his helmet and a predatory gleam came to her eye in anticipation of what was about to happen.

**oOoOo**

As Coleiro got closer he heard the sounds of battle and immediately recognized the sound of a Gallant firing mixed in with what sounded like animals roaring and people yelling and screaming. He came roaring down the road and saw the vehicles burning and humans fighting what could only be called humanoid-looking aliens. He saw the people — mostly a lot of young looking women — outnumbered by these "aliens" and fighting desperately to stay alive. As he got closer, he looked on in horror as one young woman was dragged off by the aliens and clawed to death — it looked like they were feeding off her. His anger and blood boiled over at the sight of the young woman being killed.

"BASTARDS!" he screamed as he applied more power and hit the button to shift his Cyclone into Battloid mode.

**oOoOo**

Everyone had now heard and seen the approaching motorcycle and most didn't know how much help this new party would be to the battle. The Bringers and Turok-Hans thought even less of this new interloper. That was all about to change…

Faith's eyes widened as she saw flames shoot from the back of the bike and it pulled a wheelie and seemed to jump into the air. She actually stopped and blinked because at first it looked like the rider had lost control and his bike was breaking apart, but then she realized that the bike was actually _changing shape_ and was wrapping itself around the rider. The bike and rider had to be about ten feet in the air and the huge gun that had been on the right side of the front wheel was now on the rider's right arm. The rider was doing a somersault at the top of his jump and suddenly fired two shots from the huge gun taking out a group of Bringers in a huge explosion. Faith then saw what had looked like a wheel guard now attached to the rider's left arm. It looked like a shield and she now saw what was on it — there was a picture of the hooded spectre of death with its menacing smiling skull holding a scythe.

Everyone was frozen as the sounds of the explosions faded and the now changed motorcycle with its rider landed on two feet in a ready combat stance aiming his weapon towards the temporarily halted horde of Bringers and vampires as they tried to figure out this new threat.

Coleiro saw that he had the attacking aliens off balance and on their heels at his appearance. He didn't hesitate as he activated his Cyclone's missile system…

Giles was teamed up fighting with Robin and they had been watching each other's backs. Like everyone else, he'd seen the motorcycle come roaring in and watched in shock and disbelief at its transformation. He couldn't think as he dealt with his surprise, but then he saw something pop out of the rider's now armored right shoulder and deploy across the front of the rider's helmet. He was trying to figure out what on earth it could be and then he saw the chest pop open and then the whole world exploded.

Coleiro locked his attack missiles on the largest group of aliens and ripple-fired four missiles out. The missiles had barely left his shoulder racks when he activated his thrusters and leapt into the air shifting to his left and opened up with his EP-40 pulse beam gun on targets to his right. He tracked his shots so that he could change clips. The EP-40 packed a lot of punch, but could only fire thirty shots per energy clip and he only carried three spare energy clips. He caught sight of another group of aliens — the more fierce looking ones — and he ripple-fired another four missiles. He saw them caught in explosions and was shocked to see some of them still alive and moving.

Cassie watched as the Cyclone cut into the Bringers and vampires. She didn't hesitate as she opened up again with her Gallant into the nearest threats. She saw the missiles hitting a group of vampires and saw that not all of them were dusted in the explosions. She realized that Reaper-One didn't know that he was fighting vampires.

"SIR, YOU HAVE TO HIT THEM IN THE CHEST OR TAKE THEIR HEADS OFF!" she screamed hoping that he heard her and understood.

Coleiro turned as he heard someone yell at him. He saw the young woman with short purple hair. She was wearing strange clothing — that matched what the others were wearing — he quickly realized that she must be the downed pilot he was looking for as he saw her firing a Gallant. He heard what she was yelling and he was at first puzzled, but he quickly realized that she was telling him how to kill these aliens. He quickly confirmed her info as he fired a shot from his pulse beam gun into the chest of one of the attacking creatures. He watched in disbelief as the shot ripped open the creature and then it suddenly seemed to vaporize into dust. He wanted to know more about these aliens he was facing off against, but they were bunching up to rush him and the other humans. He noted the timer counting down on his display as he fired another shot at an attacking alien.

**oOoOo**

Caleb stood on the roof of the high school watching the unfolding battle. At first he'd been confident that they would prevail as it was only a matter of time before the Bringers and Turok-Hans overwhelmed those weak girls.

_Even if the Slayers are killed last…it won't matter as they cannot stand against our numbers_, he'd thought at the time.

Everything had changed now. Like everyone else, he'd been surprised by the arrival of the motorcycle into the battle and he'd at first dismissed it as more of a nuisance than a threat. That had changed as he saw the bike and its rider _transform_ now looking more like an armoured knight. He watched in helpless rage and frustration as this person unleashed a storm of missiles and what looked like huge bolts of light into his forces.

"What in hell's name is that?" he seethed.

He didn't turn as he heard a young woman's voice reply to his question.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's making a mess of our plans…"

Caleb turned and looked upon his master — The First Evil — it was currently assuming the form of that damned Slayer — Buffy. Caleb always wondered why his master always seemed to choose to appear to him using this form most of the time. He'd thought it was to taunt him for how he'd enjoyed young girls and what he did to them, but The First seemed to enjoy the form and what it did and how it made him feel was just a bonus.

"What do we do?" Caleb asked as his turned back to the battle and he saw this new person fire more what looked like small missiles that tore into the ranks of their servants.

"I think I'll go take a closer look at who this new player is…"

**oOoOo**

Coleiro fired another burst from his EP-40 and did a huge leap through the air landing near the young woman he assumed was the pilot he was looking for.

"YOU LIEUTENANT EVANS?" he shouted to make sure he was heard.

The young woman fired a shot from her weapon and turned her head slightly, "YES SIR! I'M EVANS!"

He moved closer and lowered his voice to not deafen the young woman, "I'm Captain Coleiro…We've got a dropship at the local airfield about ten clicks from her…we need to leave now!"

Cassie whipped her head around with a stunned look on her face as she heard the Captain's news, "Sir, we can't leave! We can't leave these people to get slaughtered! This is Earth!"

"Lieutenant, I'm well aware of what planet this is, but we don't belong here. I've got a dropship and crew waiting for us like sitting ducks and the military of this planet is going to figure out pretty soon that something is going on here and come to investigate…I don't plan to be around when they do and I won't put my crew at risk! We go now!"

Xander saw Cassie talking to — for lack of a better description — the armored motorcycle guy. He tried to not get distracted as he was still fighting off attacking Bringers, but he saw Cassie's face and could tell that something was wrong.

"Are you disobeying a direct order Lieutenant?!"

Cassie paused as she knew that she was probably throwing her career away along with the possibility of being thrown in the stockade, but the thought of abandoning the others — especially Xander — tore at her. She remembered her oath and she refused to run out and leave these people behind.

"Yes, sir! We need to help these people!" she pleaded.

Coleiro saw the look on the Lieutenant's face and he was reminded of himself when he was younger and he knew that if he was in her place, he would probably say and do the same thing. The problem was that he was out of missiles and he was down to two spare energy clips for his EP-40. He also had to worry about the dropship and its crew as it was only a matter of time before the locals would have their radar and communications restored and start to put things together and vector in on their position.

"Damn it!" he muttered as he tried to find a way out of his predicament. He hadn't planned on this contingency, but he saw no alternative. Even if this wasn't his Earth, he still didn't want to leave these people to be killed by these aliens.

"How many people here?"

"Twenty…maybe thirty at the most. Why?"

"Do they have transport?"

"We can find some…"

The Captain shook his head as he couldn't believe what he was about to do. He'd calculated the numbers and they would be tight, but they could get everyone aboard the Horizant dropship and escape back to the Arcadia. What would happen afterward would be something he would deal with then, but the most immediate problem was executing a fighting withdrawal.

"Get everyone to fall back to vehicles and make their way like hell to the airport. There's a Horizant sitting there…get everyone aboard. We'll take them with us!"

"What about these creatures…we can't let them run around and spread?"

"I've got my fighter at the landing zone as well…we fall back…you and the others evacuate and I come back here and deal with them."

Cassie smirked at the thought of what these creatures would do at the sight of a Veritech fighter.

"Go organize them… I'll provide rearguard!" the Captain ordered.

Cassie gave the Captain a smile as she moved, firing on the run, to find Buffy and Xander, "Yes, sir!"

**oOoOo**

Buffy was dealing with her own shock and surprise at their sudden change of fortune. For the moment they had the Turok-Hans and Bringers on the run as they were being held back by the heavily armed newcomer. She caught Cassie, with Xander following up behind her, moving quickly to her.

"Buffy…"

Buffy leaned her head in the direction towards the armored man, "He with you?" she said with a smirk.

Cassie couldn't help but laugh and smile at the comment, "Yeah…he's here to evacuate me."

Xander was a little shocked as the words that Cassie was leaving hit him, "What about the rest of us? We could use his help!" he said worriedly but he wasn't sure what he was more upset about — being left to fend against their enemies or that Cassie was leaving.

Buffy was about to say the same thing, but Cassie spoke up first.

"I convinced the Captain…everyone is going. We need to get everyone loaded on vehicles and get to the airport. We've got a ship waiting there."

Everything was suddenly going really fast for Buffy and she found it hard to believe and reconcile that they were being asked to leave. It was against her nature to run out with the vampires and Bringers running around town. Only God knew how far they would spread and how many they would kill.

"I can't leave… I need to stop them."

"There's too many and the Captain said he'll come back after we evacuate and deal with them…" Cassie said as she understood what Buffy was saying

"He's going to need something bigger with a whole lot more firepower than what he has if he's going to stop them!" Xander said.

Xander and Buffy were both surprised when Cassie suddenly smiled, "Yeah…I don't think you'll have to worry about that."

**oOoOo**

Giles was confused by how the situation had changed on them. Everything had been a frenzied fight for survival against what seemed like an unending supply of Bringers and Turok-Hans and now the situation had become even more disjointed be the arrival of this strange motorcycle rider. Giles watched Cassie talking to the rider and he assumed that this was one of her people that had come looking for her. Things took a stranger turn when Buffy and Xander rushed over and told him that they were to get everyone aboard vehicles and head to the airport. Giles felt lost and a growing sense of frustration at not having any control over the situation. He wanted to yell out to everyone to stop so he could have a moment to figure out what was happening, but that was a wistful thought as the sky was filled with bursts of energy weapon's fire and the roar of vampires.

Giles shook off his frustration and started gathering the Potentials to him and moved to a spot where Xander had pointed out to him to meet up at. Xander rushed off to gather with Anya, Willow, Dawn and Andrew. Buffy, Spike and Faith were busy still fighting the Bringers and vampires, but they were slowly falling back being covered by the superior firepower of Cassie and the newest arrival.

To Giles it seemed that time was standing still as the night was filled with weapon's fire, explosions and the roar of vampires. Another sound was suddenly added as Giles and the others heard an engine and saw a big yellow school bus drive up. Luck had favored them for once as Robin still had the keys for one of school buses that was parked close to the high school.

Giles watched as their armored savior and Cassie continued to lay down fire holding the Bringers and vampires at bay. He'd always been dubious of the effectiveness of guns against Vampires, but these weapons were extremely effective in taking out Turok-Hans. His concentration changed focus as he heard the bus horn honking and turned to go help everyone board. He'd tried to get a head count of everyone as he didn't want to leave anyone behind, but the situation had deteriorated into a confused mess. Giles urged everyone to board quickly.

**oOoOo**

Cassie had heard the vehicle drive up and watched people start to board. She kept firing her Gallant, but it suddenly didn't fire anymore and she knew that she'd exhausted the energy clip.

"SIR I'M OUT!" she yelled to catch the Captain's attention.

Coleiro heard her and turned his head back to glance and saw the people boarding a big yellow vehicle. He grabbed his Gallant from his holster and tossed it to Evans and she grabbed it out of the air and started firing again. Coleiro could see that the aliens were no longer rushing in as they seemed to have learned quickly that they could be turned to ash. He could see them moving at the edges of the darkness where the vehicles were still burning. One of the aliens would attempt to rush them and they got quickly vaporized by either him or Evans.

_Time to get the hell out of here..._

"Lieutenant, fallback and board the vehicle! I'll cover and follow…make sure that you don't stop for anything until you're at the airfield… Understood!"

The Captain opened a com channel to the dropship and told them to expect guests. There was a moment of disbelief on the channel as he explained the situation. He reinforced the point that everyone was to get aboard the dropship — no one was to be left behind. He also warned Sergeant Bronowski to make sure that the security detail was alert and what threats to expect.

**oOoOo**

Xander boarded the bus and watched anxiously out the windows at the back as Cassie sprinted for the bus. The bus was full and confusion was rampant as some of the Potentials had been injured and others were trying to provide first-aid. Everyone was scared and uncertain of what was going to happen.

Xander let out a sigh of relief as Cassie made it to the bus and he got up to go to the front to see her. He watched as Giles, Cassie and Buffy boarded the bus. He heard Buffy shout out, "THAT'S EVERYONE…I THINK!"

Xander watched as Robin closed the doors and started to put the bus in gear. He was suddenly struck by with a bad feeling — like they were forgetting someone. He whipped his head around scanning the bus for people.

_Yeah… Anya… Willow… Dawn… Spike… Andrew… Giles… Buffy… Cassie… Yup they're—ahhh hell where's Faith?_

The bus had started to move and a feeling of dread hit Xander. He didn't hesitate as he shouted out, "STOP THE BUS! WE FORGOT FAITH!"

**oOoOo**

Coleiro had started moving back slowly towards the bus continuing to fire bursts from his EP-40. He was on his last energy clip and was looking forward to the bus moving and getting the hell out of here. He planned on using his thrusters to leapfrog to put some distance between him and these aliens before he shifted his Cyclone back into motorcycle mode. He was suddenly surprised when the bus suddenly stopped and the backdoor flew open. For a moment he thought maybe one of those aliens had gotten on the bus, but he saw Lieutenant Evans and a young man with an eye patch at the door. He heard them calling out for someone.

"FAITH! FAITH WHERE ARE YOU?"

The Captain made a quick jump and landed by the open back door. He was still facing towards the direction of the enemy, but he turned his head slightly.

"What the hell is going on?! Why aren't you moving?!"

"We're missing someone!"

"Damn it!" Coleiro muttered as he knew that something was going to go south with this plan.

"Where did you last see them?!" he asked quickly.

Cassie shrugged, but Xander spoke up pointing, "She was off to our right…towards that cemetery."

"Description? Name?" Coleiro asked quickly as he fired a couple shots at a couple of the creatures that tried to move up.

"Her name's Faith… Brunette…you can't miss her." Xander quickly responded.

"Okay… I'll get her. You get moving…now!"

Cassie nodded her understanding and they closed up the door on the bus. It didn't take long for the bus to get moving. Coleiro waited for the bus to get some speed and distance from him. He activated his missile targeting system and the system deployed from his right shoulder across his helmet visor. He had no missiles left, but the targeting system was equipped with infrared capabilities and he started looking for heat signatures to try and locate this missing person.

**oOoOo**

Faith had gotten separated from the main group. She'd seen one of the Potentials get dragged off by a couple of Bringers and she'd gotten pissed off and gone after them to get the girl back. She'd gotten there too late by the time she'd caught up. The Bringers had slashed and stabbed the poor girl to death and Faith had vented her anger on them. After she'd taken them out, she then found herself facing off against a couple of those Turok-Hans. She suddenly was very aware that she was all by herself, isolated from the group and the realization hit her that she would have her hands full trying to face off against a pair of those vampires by herself without backup. In one of those rare moments for her, Faith decided that discretion was the better choice and she chose to run and try to circle back around to the group. As she ran she could hear the vampires chasing after her and she found herself getting pushed farther away from the others.

She found herself running through a cemetery and for a moment she thought she'd lost her pursuers, but that quickly changed when three Bringers jumped out at her with knifes. She hadn't wanted to stop, but she had no choice and took on the Bringers. She managed to put them down, but before she could start running again, the Turok-Hans caught up to her. This time she didn't have a clear escape path as they moved to box her in. She was looking over the vampires as they circled her and trying to figure out what her next move was when a man's voice spoke up.

"Facing quite the predicament aren't you."

Faith whipped around and saw Richard Wilkins standing off to the side watching with a smirk plastered across his face. She immediately knew it was The First as it had already shown itself to her before using the dead Mayor's form, it knew how that apparition affected her.

Faith was suddenly hit with the feeling that this was the end of the line for her, but she was determined that she wasn't going down without a fight. She found herself trying to think of some smartass reply to The First.

_Saying "Go fuck yourself" just doesn't seem to convey the right sentiment_, she thought with a smirk as she kept an eye on the vampires circling her.

She could sense that the Turok-Hans were about to strike, but everything suddenly changed as both vampires were hit by bolts of light and burst into clouds of dust. Her eyes widened in surprise as the armored motorcycle rider came out of the night sky landing off to her left side. Her surprise grew when he spoke to her.

"Your name Faith?"

Faith found herself momentarily speechless at the entrance, but it was The First that answered.

"Well…it looks like you've found yourself a new hero."

She watched as the armored man raised his weapon and pointed it at The First. The image of Mayor Wilkins just gave them a look of disdain as it looked down the barrel of the weapon. Faith jumped a little as she heard clicking like a gun would make when out of bullets.

"Oh dear…looks like our hero's gun doesn't work anymore. I wonder how will he defend himself and the fair Faith now." the image of Mayor Wilkins taunted them with a big smirk now plastered across his face.

Faith whipped around as she heard movement and saw five more Turok-Hans appear out of the darkness surrounding her and the armored rider. She took a deep breath to try and release the tension and ready herself for the vampires to rush them. Once again the situation spun on its head for her as she was caught off-guard as the armored rider stepped forward and assumed a combat stance holding that shield attached to his left arm in front of him. She found herself jumping again slightly in surprise as a huge sword blade popped out of one end of the shield, becoming an extension of his left arm — the blade then seemed to start vibrating and giving off a slight glow.

_I got to get me one of those_, Faith thought incredulously as she tried to believe that what she was seeing was real.

Coleiro confronted the human male standing in front of him and had already picked up on the aliens closing on his and the woman's position. He knew that he was almost out of energy for his EP-40 when he jumped in, but he had no choice as he wasn't about to leave the woman behind.

He was wondering how this man was involved with the aliens, but there was something wrong with the situation as he wasn't getting any thermal readings from the man — like he wasn't there. Before he could give it any further thought the creatures rushed him and the woman.

Faith had been expecting the attack and she stepped into the closest attacking vampire with a spin kick catching the creature in the head sending it momentarily staggering. She turned to deal with the next attacking vampire as she regained her balance and she was greeted with the sight of the armored rider using his blade to cut a Turok-Han in half turning it into dust. She actually paused for a moment as she found herself in a little awe as she watched the rider spin quickly, slicing again and gutting another vampire — turning it into a dust cloud.

Coleiro killed two of the aliens, cutting through them easily with his Close Assault and Defense System (CADS) blade. The blade was designed to cut through the armor of Invid mecha and these aliens weren't wearing any armor whatsoever. He could have easily faced down the other three aliens, but his sensors picked up a lot more aliens rushing towards their position and he was very aware of the timer still counting down on his helmet display. He was still on the clock and they needed to get moving.

_Definitely time to get the hell out of here_, he thought as he quickly evaluated the situation and decided on his course of action.

Faith was once again caught off-guard and before she could react she found herself being scooped up in the arms of the armored rider and they were taking off into the sky.


	14. Out of the frying pan and into

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN:**

**Out of the frying pan and into...**

Coleiro was busy multi-tasking. He was keeping his thrusters on full burn flying through the night sky to put some distance between him and the aliens, he was trying to watch out for obstacles, find a spot to put down and to top it off — his passenger was starting to struggle in his grip.

Coleiro grunted as his passenger punched him in the shoulder. He was surprised to feel it through his armor.

"HEY! I WANT DOWN!" the woman screamed over the sound of the Cyclone's thrusters and rushing wind.

Coleiro debated what to do as the woman yelled again and continued squirming. A mischievous evil thought of dropping his reluctant passenger in a pool or lake passed quickly through his head.

He brushed away the tantalizing thought and concentrated on orienting his aerial position to where he'd driven into this town. It didn't take long for him to locate the road he came in on. Once he'd put some more distance between them and the aliens, he planned to set down next to the road and switch back into motorcycle mode. He turned his body and kept his thrusters going not quite a full burn as his passenger wouldn't appreciate the wind burn. He let out a sigh and ignored the yelling and squirming from his passenger.

He finally found what looked like a quiet spot and brought them for a landing. Just a couple of feet before landing, his passenger broke loose of his hold and fell to the ground. The woman hit the ground hard and tumbled and was quickly back on her feet. Coleiro was a little surprised to see how quick her reflexes were in how she recovered and was back up. As soon as he was on the ground, he started shifting his Cyclone into motorcycle mode.

**oOoOo**

Only Faith's pride was a little bruised when she suddenly found herself falling and hitting the ground quite hard. She'd recovered quickly and was back on her feet and brushing off the dirt. She now found herself standing back watching the armored man land and could only shake her head in amazement as he changed his motorcycle back to something that she recognized.

She watched as the man knelt down and the motorcycle unwrapped itself from around him. It looked like magic to her as she watched him step out and then stand next to the machine as it reassembled itself. It was all done in a matter of seconds.

_It has to be magic…no machine can do that!_ she thought still shaking her head in awe.

She was caught off guard — again — when the man mounted the motorcycle and looked at her.

"You getting on?"

"What?"

"It's a long walk and I don't think you want to be walking around here…the neighborhood isn't too friendly."

Faith was now confused, "What're you talking about? Where're we going?"

"I don't have a lot of time to explain, but the quick and dirty is that everyone is headed to the airport and we're going to meet up with them and get the hell out of Dodge… Now tick tock the clock is ticking." the man said with an exasperated sigh as he motioned his head to the seat behind him as he started up the Cyclone and revved the throttle.

Faith was still confused by the whole situation and was puzzled why everyone was going to the airport, but considering that any other place was better than sticking around Sunnydale, she didn't need any further prompting and got on the motorcycle behind the driver.

"Hold tight…I'm going to punch it!"

Faith snorted out of reflex, as it seemed that every guy she'd ever met with a bike talked a good game, but they hadn't known jack about driving. Even as she snorted she got a different vibe from this guy as this wasn't any normal type of bike and she'd seen him ride into town. She hesitated for a second as she wrapped her arms around the driver and settled herself down and made sure she had a good grip. She'd barely settled into position when the motorcycle roared off like a rocket.

**oOoOo**

Coleiro grunted as his passenger tightened her grip around his waist as he took off. Her strength caught him by surprise and for a split second he almost lost control of his Cyclone, but his reflexes caught it and compensated without losing a step. He found he was a bit rusty riding with a passenger. He hadn't driven with a passenger in years and his thoughts drifted to Sonia and how she used to hold him tight as they drove when they went for rides back on their Earth and Tirol. He quickly pushed those memories and feelings away and concentrated on his driving. He accelerated the throttle and leaned further down as the Cyclone went faster. A small smirk came to his face as he could feel his passenger lean in closer and move with him, not fighting him as he drove.

_At least she knows how to ride_, Coleiro thought as he focused on the road.

He was going to get a SITREP from Sergeant Bronowski when the com channel crackled in his helmet and he heard the anxious and excited voice.

"Reaper-One, this is Pelican-One. Do you read me over?"

"Reaper-One here. What's the situation Sergeant?"

"LZ is hot! I repeat LZ is hot! We got aliens on the field!"

Coleiro stiffened at the thought of those aliens from the town now swarming the airfield and his people, "Can you hold the LZ!?"

"Yes, sir! They tried making a huge rush at us, but we gave them a rude welcome. They keep coming at us in small groups and we have no problems holding them off, but I wouldn't leave it too long!"

"Did our house guests show up yet?"

"Not yet sir!"

_Damn it_, Coleiro thought as he tried to figure out what else would go wrong tonight.

"Sergeant, let me know the minute our house guests show up and make sure they can get through. We'll be there in less than ten."

"We? Sir?"

"Long story Sergeant. If the situation changes let me know."

"Yes, sir!"

**oOoOo**

Faith was resisting the urge to scream out in delight. She'd been on bikes before, both riding and as a passenger, but this was the wildest ride she'd ever been on.

_This guy knows how to drive…this is almost as good as sex!_

She was leaning close and holding tight. She picked up a change in his body language, "What's wrong?" she shouted over the engine and wind. She wasn't sure if he'd heard her and she was about to shout the question again when she heard the driver.

"We've got company at the airport!"

"And we're still headed there?" Faith asked somewhat confused.

"Yeah…our ride is there."

She was still trying to figure what was so important at the airport, but before she could ask the question the driver gave the bike more throttle and they increased their speed even more causing her to focus on her grip and staying on the bike.

**oOoOo**

Sergeant Bronowski did a check-in with the members of his security team. So far there had been no causalities when the aliens had rushed them. The Sergeant gave a small prayer of thanks that the Captain had given them a heads up about the aliens running around. He had put his team on full alert and they had deployed their Cyclone targeting systems to use the thermal systems to scan the perimeter.

Bronowski let out an involuntary shudder as he recalled the aliens that had suddenly rushed from the darkness at the edge of the airport. He'd seen his fair share of strange and different aliens and he'd fought the Invid on numerous occasions and seen them in their natural state, but these aliens that attacked had a wrongness to them — an evil feeling hung over them for lack of a better description.

The Sergeant had his team hold fire until the aliens were halfway to their positions. He then gave the order to fire in a calm controlled voice.

The quiet night had erupted as the REF soldiers opened up with particle beam weapons, rocket launchers, missiles and Gatling machine guns. The Sergeant had overloaded his team with weapons and ammo as he was a firm believer in being prepared for any contingency. He had found through personal experience that a lot of firepower tended to resolve any surprises that happened to arise in combat.

That first attack had been handily crushed in seconds and when the enemy didn't immediately attack again, he took the opportunity to have his team reload and shift positions. He had a couple of his troopers using their Cyclone's missile systems to take out groups of aliens that were gathering at the edges of the runway. Normally he would have dispersed his soldiers to avoid bunching up to be big fat targets for Invid plasma weapons, but these aliens appeared to have no weaponry. The few alien bodies that were strewn across the runway appeared to be carrying only knifes or swords, so he was taking advantage of the situation to group his soldiers up to concentrate all their firepower.

The Sergeant was a veteran and that made him a pragmatist. If anyone wanted to attack him, then they got whatever they deserved. So he felt no guilt over having such a crushing superiority in firepower. Even if the aliens weren't properly armed, they weren't dumb. Ever since the first attack, they had been making rushes in small groups mostly composed of the bigger tougher — more evil looking — aliens. Bronowski and his trooper crushed them ruthlessly.

Bronowski was starting to get a little anxious, the Captain was on his way here, plus he'd been informed to keep an eye out for people approaching in vehicles. He didn't know what had happened in the town, but it must have been bad for the Captain to bring a group of locals back with him. Any further thoughts or worries were cut-off as one of his troopers came over the com channel.

"Sergeant…I've got a vehicle approaching from the South-East."

"Okay Jenkins, can you tell if it is civilian or military?"

"Definitely civilian Sergeant…it looks like one of those old style yellow school buses from those pre-war vids."

Bronowski let out a small sigh, "Okay everyone heads up. We've got incoming friendlies. Keep your heads up and eyes open…"

The words had barely left his mouth when a voice yelled over the com channel, "WE'VE GOT INCOMING!"

**oOoOo**

Robin was trying to get all he could out of the old school bus he was driving. He had his foot down hard on the accelerator and he heard the engine laboring to get more power and increase speed. He had the old bus up to fifty miles per hour, but it still felt like they were crawling. His eyes were focused on the road, but his ears were filled with the sound of girls sobbing and moaning in pain and people breathing heavily.

He was still trying to figure out why they were headed out to the airport. All he knew was that it had something to do with Cassie and the strange motorcycle that had arrived in time to save their butts. Robin was very aware of the world of demons, vampires and magic, but he was also a rational modern man familiar with science and he had no explanation for what he'd seen that motorcycle do to change the driver into some sort of techno-armored soldier with missiles and lasers.

Giles came up to stand by Robin as he struggled to keep the bus straight on the road, "How much further?" he asked.

"Should be just up around this bend and we should be able to see it."

Robin heard Giles let out a slight sigh of relief.

"Do you know why we're headed out here?" Robin asked as he struggled to keep the bus going straight and not careen across the road.

"I'm not really sure," Giles said with a shrug, "but that motorcycle rider…soldier was one of Cassie's people and he said to head out here as we were all getting out of here."

Robin was still trying to figure out what was going on when the bus turned a corner on the road and they could see Sunnydale Airport up ahead. They were approaching parallel to the runway and there were a number of hangers blocking their view of the runway, but through the buildings and even in the darkness they could see the huge looking aircraft on the far side of the airfield.

"Holy shit!" Robin muttered as he stared at the huge aircraft on the field with a smaller looking craft parked next to it.

"Yes indeed." Giles muttered in agreement at seeing the same sight. He knew that Cassie was from an alternate Earth and was from space, but hearing and seeing were two different things and the whole moment took on a surreal feeling as he stared at the huge spacecraft.

Robin regained his focus and steered the bus towards the gate entrance to the field. He saw that the gate was open and it looked like a clear path to their destination. He started to let out a sigh of relief, as they passed through the gate and made their way across the tarmac. Suddenly the bus shook and staggered as if it had been hit. Screams filled the inside of the bus as he fought to keep control of the bus and keep it moving forward.

The bus staggered again as if something had hit it. He could feel his arms strain and stretch as he tried to keep the steering wheel straight, but he could feel the bus start to tip.

"HANG ON EVERYONE!" Robin screamed as he lost control of the bus and it tipped over.

The bus hit the ground with a huge crash, sliding for a bit on its side before stopping. Robin along with everyone else inside was tossed around and banged up. He held on, for dear life, to his seat trying to keep his wits about him and wait for the bus to stop sliding. He was already trying to figure out exits from the bus that they could get everyone out. He heard roaring outside and wondered what was going to happen next. Suddenly the whole world erupted in fire and explosions.

**oOoOo**

"OPEN FIRE! COVER THAT VEHICLE!" Bronowski screamed over the com channel as he watched in horror as the aliens ran across the field towards their positions. A group of the bigger aliens had run full speed into the yellow bus hitting it hard and the Sergeant had been shocked to see that they actually forced the bus on its side.

Missiles and rockets roared out to the areas around the bus and a wall of explosions cut into the attacking force as they rushed towards the bus. Plasma fire was directed at the aliens closest to the bus and M-100 Gatling guns sprayed the open ground for any aliens that survived the missiles and rockets.

Bronowski was debating what to do, when he suddenly saw a door on the back of the bus swing open and a door on the top side of the bus open and people started crawling out of both openings in the vehicle.

"KEEP FIRING! KEEP THOSE PEOPLE COVERED!" Bronowski yelled as he opened up with his Gatling gun to put up a wall of fire to protect the people.

**oOoOo**

Cassie felt her head ringing as she crawled out of the back of the bus. She had managed to force the back door of the bus open. She had no idea what had hit them, but it wasn't something friendly. She dropped to the ground into a world of fire and explosions. She recognized the sounds of EP-40 pulse particle beam guns firing and saw rockets and missiles streak out to the open areas around the bus ripping into the ground or the ranks of the Turok-Han vampires that were trying to rush across the field.

She looked towards where the weapons fire was coming from and blinked not quite believing that she was looking at a Horizont dropship and an Alpha fighter just sitting on the runway. She heard moaning and people moving in the bus behind her and she quickly regained her focus and turned to go help. Xander was already crawling out and he turned and helped out one of the wounded Potentials.

Buffy was closer to the front of the bus and had forced open the side door and pulled herself up and on top of the side of the bus. She laid down on her stomach, reaching back in and started to help pull people out. She could see Giles and Robin helping people move towards the door and help them up to her.

Buffy's ears rung from the roar and thunder of explosions and weapons fire. She glanced to where the fire was coming from and she blinked at seeing the huge spacecraft sitting on the runway. She shook her head to focus on what she needed to do. With the fighting going on her first worry was about her sister.

"GILES, WHERE'S DAWN!?" Buffy yelled trying to be heard over the battle surrounding them.

Giles heard her and looked towards the back of the bus trying to remember where he'd seen Dawn sitting before the crash. He saw through the darkness and smoke drifting in and caught a glimpse of Dawn and Willow helping others to the open back door. He looked up at Buffy, "SHE'S TOWARDS THE BACK. SHE'S GOING OUT THE BACK DOOR!"

Buffy let out a slight sigh of relief as she continued to help people out of the bus as the battle continued to rage around them.

**oOoOo**

Sergeant Bronowski watched as people exited out of the bus and started struggling their way across the field towards the dropship. He could easily see that some of the people were wounded. He fired another burst from his Gatling gun and hit his thrusters to make a jump closer to the vehicle.

As the people from the bus got closer, he yelled out waving and firing bursts from his weapon at targets of opportunity, "KEEP MOVING! MOVE TO THE SHIP! DON'T STOP!"

He caught movement through the smoke of the fires from explosions caused by the rockets and missiles. He paused for a second to make sure it wasn't anyone from the bus. He quickly confirmed it was one of those aliens and he opened up with a long burst from his weapon catching the creature in the chest tearing it open. He still couldn't believe what these aliens were they were facing as the creature seemed to vaporize to dust when it is was killed.

People moved past him without stopping or giving him a second look as they kept moving towards the dropship and the promise of safety that it offered. Bronowski noted, with surprise, that most of the people from the bus were young women and some of them were injured to varying degrees.

"Sergeant!"

Bronowski turned towards the voice and saw a young purple-hair woman coming towards him, "Yes." he replied.

"Sergeant, I'm Lieutenant Evans."

"Yes, ma'am!"

"You talk to Captain Coleiro?"

"Yes ma'am, he's less than ten minutes out. Get your people aboard. We've got a medic at the dropship, he can help with wounded."

"Thank you Sergeant!" Cassie said in a tired but very grateful voice as she turned and moved to rejoin and help guide the others towards the dropship.

**oOoOo**

Anya found herself one of the last ones out of the bus. She had pushed — dragged — Andrew to the back exit door. She was tired and sore and she could feel the blood from a number of cuts flowing from her arms and legs. She managed to get Andrew to snap out of his shock and focus on the situation they were in. She could see the blood flow from a nasty cut on his head that he'd gotten in the crash. Anya pushed Andrew out the exit door and heard him hit the ground and then she pulled herself out and took a moment to catch her breath.

"Okay Andrew, we have to get moving!" Anya said as she tried to grab his attention and point towards where everyone else was moving to.

"My legs don't want to move…everything is spinning." Andrew managed to croak out.

Anya could barely hear him over the battle raging around them, but she could see that he was in trouble. A small voice in the back of her head told her to leave him behind and save herself. For a split second Anya found herself about to take the voice's advice. She quickly shook it off, reaching down and grabbing Andrew's arm, putting it around her neck and wrapping her arm around him to help him stand up. She could feel her sore muscles and joints ache and strain as she took most of Andrew's weight to help him stand and they started moving forward slowly, staggering towards the big plane that was off in the distance.

Every step they took caused Anya to gasp for breath as she felt her body ache and strain. She found herself having a hard time standing and she could feel the sweat drenching her body as the world seem to go insane around them.

"Com'on you talking flesh bag! Help me out here!" Anya muttered as she carried/dragged Andrew. She saw that his head was now slumped and for a moment she thought that he was dead, but then she noticed that he was still breathing.

_You just still had to be alive didn't you! Just my luck damn it!_ Anya thought wearily as she continued carrying/dragging him.

Anya stumbled and they both fell to the ground hard. She found herself trying to find the strength to get up and keep moving.

_Just need to catch my breath…_

Anya struggled to get back to her knees. She thought of calling for someone to come help them, but the roar and thunder of the fighting was too loud and she didn't want to waste any more time or her waning strength. She took a couple of deep breaths and started to pull Andrew and herself back up to start moving again. Somehow she managed to get herself and Andrew back standing again, but any congratulatory thoughts were quickly drowned out as she heard a growling sound through the thick smoke that swirled around the field. Anya managed to turn Andrew and herself towards it. She felt her heart start racing even more as a Turok-Han came out of the smoke directly towards them.

Anya saw death coming for them and somehow she found some last spark of strength and pushed Andrew away from her as the vampire bowled her over causing both of them to tumble to the ground in a heap.

Everything was moving in slow motion for her as she struggled, finding herself entwined with the vampire. She suddenly found herself lying on the ground on her back and free of the vampire. She started to push herself up, when the Turok-Han pounced pinning her to the ground. Anya wanted to scream, but she was too tried and too scared. The vampire moved closer and she knew this was the end. Just like The First had taunted her — she was going to die alone.

The situation suddenly changed as a loud and angry man's voice shouted out, "LEAVE THE LADY ALONE!" which was then followed by a huge armored fist catching the vampire in the side of the head sending it flying off of her hitting the ground hard.

Anya was trying to gather herself, when a thunderous deafening buzz saw sound went off and she caught a glimpse of the vampire being cut to pieces and exploding into a huge cloud of dust.

She looked up and saw a helmeted head looking down at her. She was feeling light-headed and confused. A part of my mind was telling her to close her eyes and go to sleep and she decided that was a good idea and slid into unconsciousness.

**oOoOo**

Sergeant Bronowski looked down at the unconscious woman. He had seen her struggling to save someone and then the alien had attacked them. He'd witnessed how she'd pushed the person she'd been trying to save out of the way and tangle up with the alien. Watching that scene caused something to snap inside him and he rushed in without thinking. He knew that he couldn't use his Gatling gun with the woman that close to the alien, but he was wearing a Cyclone in Battloid mode and that in itself made him a weapon and he put all his power into the punch to send the alien flying off the woman far enough that he now had a clean shot with his weapon.

He called in another trooper to recover the young man the woman had been helping. He didn't waste any more time as he picked up the unconscious woman and hit his thrusters to fly up and back towards the dropship.

**oOoOo**

Faith was having the ride of her life as the motorcycle roared down the dark road without any pauses or hesitation shown by the driver.

_I wonder if he'll let me take his bike out for a little spin…_

Her thoughts of joyrides suddenly evaporated as they made a turn on the road and she could see the airport. The place looked and sounded like a warzone as she saw rockets streak across the sky along with beams of bright lights stab out. She was thinking that her driver would slow down or change direction, but she was surprised as the driver gunned the throttle and the bike picked up even more speed roaring into the smoke.

It was blinding and she could hear roaring, but the driver made minor adjustments and avoided any threats. Almost as fast as they entered the smoke they were out and Faith managed to get a glimpse of a huge airplane with a smaller jet beside it.

She saw a yellow school bus on its side and then she saw the people moving towards the larger plane. She immediately recognized who the people were. She was still confused as it looked like people were getting on the larger strange looking plane. She saw more people suited up like the motorcycle rider had been back in town, except they were carrying bigger and meaner looking weapons.

It was only seconds and they were pulling up to the larger plane. That's when it hit Faith that this wasn't a plane she was looking at, but a spacecraft and she found herself momentarily distracted, pushing the sounds of the battle to the back of her mind, as she stared up in awe at the ship.

She was so distracted that she didn't at first notice that the driver was getting off the bike. She finally regained her focus when she thought she heard her name being called.

"Huh? What?"

Faith thought she actually heard a small chuckle from the man. She found herself wondering what he looked like as she couldn't see anything other than the skull on the tinted helmet visor.

"I said time to get off…we're here and you need to get aboard the dropship." the man said.

"Get in that…that thing?!" Faith exclaimed excitedly.

The man shook his head in what could only be described as a slow frustrated manner, "Yeah…that's your ride out of here."

Before Faith could think of any reply, she heard a familiar voice calling her name. She turned and saw Buffy coming closer and she saw that a lot of the Potentials were injured. She didn't hesitate as she got off the bike and sprinted to go help the others bring in the wounded.

**oOoOo**

Coleiro watched as the brunette called Faith left him standing there to go help her people move to the dropship. For a moment the sounds of the battle and other thoughts faded away as he watched her run, but he shook them off quickly as he saw Sergeant Bronowski come in for a landing. The Captain arched an eye in surprise to see that the Sergeant was carrying an unconscious blonde woman. Coleiro bit back a sarcastic comment that flashed in his head as it didn't seem appropriate at this moment.

"Sergeant, SITREP?"

"We're holding the perimeter for now, but our ammo won't last forever. We're loading the wounded first and then the rest of the civilians. It'll be tricky to load the security team without being rushed…"

Coleiro had a grim smile come to his face. The vision of those aliens and the memory of what they had done to that young woman, back into town, brought his blood to a boil again.

"Sergeant, Hurry up the loading of our passengers. Make sure my Cyclone is loaded on the dropship. Don't worry about the enemy…I'll clear the field."

Bronowski immediately understood what the Captain was going to do and he couldn't help but smile as he came to attention still carrying the unconscious woman, "Yes, sir! Understood, sir!" he said as he turned and took his charge and moved quickly over to the loading area of the Horizont as the Captain turned and sprinted for his Alpha.

**oOoOo**

Xander was helping to load people up into the spaceship. He was so busy that the realization that he was beside a spaceship and helping people get inside hadn't sunk in. He was relieved to see Cassie unhurt, but he was hit by a heavy wave of guilt when one of her people came running in carrying an unconscious Anya. He found himself rushing to her side, but before he could ask any questions, the armored man — who looked huge and imposing even without the armor — spoke as he handed her off to him.

"Get her aboard! The medic will take care of her."

Xander found himself nodding as he took Anya in his arms and carried her over to the entrance where everyone was loading up into the ship.

He hadn't gotten far, when he heard a loud roaring noise that caused him to stop and turn. He saw that the smaller ship was doing a vertical take-off. For a moment an angry thought crossed his mind as he watched the smaller ship gain some altitude.

_Bastard is running off and leaving us!_

His thoughts quickly changed as the craft got about fifty feet off the ground and hovered for a moment. He almost dropped Anya as he watched the plane shift and change shape. Suddenly it was no longer a plane, but a huge looking robot hovering off the ground and it was carrying a very huge gun in one hand.

**oOoOo**

Faith was helping to load a wounded Potential aboard the spaceship. When she turned around to help the next person she saw that everyone, still waiting to load, was now staring off in one direction.

She found herself moving slowly to get a better look at what everyone was looking at. As she moved out from under the large ship, she froze in place as she found herself looking at a huge robot descending to the ground. She looked around and noticed that the smaller plane was missing. It suddenly clicked as she recognized that the robot's black and red colors were the same as the smaller plane's had been. She then saw a huge skull on the chest of the robot and she realized who was driving the machine.

_Holy crap!_ Faith thought as she saw the huge gun that the robot was carrying. For a moment the whole airfield was quiet as the robot touched down on the ground. The robot swivelled its head as if it was looking over the whole area. She found herself rooted in place as the robot took a few steps — moving without any effort and almost human like. She was still frozen in awe as she watched the robot raise the huge gun and point it across the field. She ducked and covered her ears as a thunderous roaring sound erupted and the far side of the airfield went up in huge explosions.

**oOoOo**

Xander almost dropped Anya again as the robot opened fire sending out a huge amount of fire to the other side of the field causing huge explosions. He jumped as he felt a hand touch his shoulder. He turned and found Cassie looking at him.

"Sorry I startled you." she said in a loud voice trying to be heard over the weapons fire.

Xander stared at her for a long moment and slowly turned to look at the huge robot.

"Am I imagining things or wasn't that robot just a plane a few moments ago?" he said in a stunned voice.

Cassie smirked, "Yeah…that's an Alpha. It's the standard fighter used by the REF."

It took a moment for the info to register in Xander's brain, but when it did his eye went wide in shock and surprise, "You…you said fighter?" he asked and saw Cassie nod to confirm, "That's what you fly?"

Cassie smirked and nodded again to confirm his question.

Xander was stunned and jumped slightly again as he felt Cassie's hand on his arm. She gently led him back towards the entrance of the spaceship with Anya still in his arms. He occasionally turned his head as the robot fired again and watched as it strode across the field almost like it was alive.

**oOoOo**

Captain Coleiro scanned the airfield and surrounding area with his Alpha's sensors. He'd opened up with his pulse gun pod and cut into the aliens that had survived Sergeant Bronowski and his security team. The scans were now coming up clear and he started to walk the perimeter around the dropship as they continued loading.

Minutes passed by and a call came over the com channel from the dropship's pilot.

"Reaper-One…Pelican-One here. Loading is complete and we're ready for take-off."

"Understood Pelican-One. How are you doing with the guests and added weight?"

"It's tight, but we've got everybody situated. The wounded are in the Cyclone infantry bay. It's a good thing we don't have far to go." the pilot replied.

"Okay, fire up your thrusters and make for the rendezvous altitude, I'll stay here and cover your take-off. I'll meet up with you…"

The pilot of Pelican-One detected something in the Captain's voice, "What's up sir? Anything wrong?"

"No…nothing's wrong. I'm just going to take a detour. I have to go back into town and give my regards to our alien friends." Coleiro replied with a predatory look coming to his face.

"Understood Reaper-One…give them our regards too." the pilot said with a chuckle in his voice.

**oOoOo**

Coulson frowned as he studied the huge display map. From the few reports they were able to get through the garbled military and congested civilian communication channels the fighters hadn't encountered any targets over the East or South coasts. What orders ground control had been able to relay was that the fighters were to conduct sweeps of the areas —as long their fuel would last — to locate and engage any targets. On the West coast fighter units had been launched, but with civilian air traffic radar out, it was getting pretty hairy in the air, and the air force also found itself more trying to assist civilian air traffic control in getting commercial and private planes on the ground.

As Coulson continued to study the map, he could hear the news announcer on a nearby television provide another update.

_"…with air traffic control radar out, there is chaos and panic in the skies over the continent as air traffic controllers and the FAA co-ordinate efforts to get all civilian aircraft landed safely. There have been numerous reports of near-miss mid-air collisions and there have been several crash landings near and at several airports around the country by commercial and private planes that had run out of fuel. Luckily there have been no fatalities reported so far, but there have been a number of serious injuries reported at a number of the crash sites._

_There have been reports of the Air Force scrambling fighters into the air, but spokespersons for the Pentagon are only saying that units of the Air Force and Air National Guard are being put into the air to assist with civilian aircraft and help local authorities manage air traffic during this crisis._

_Pentagon spokespersons are refusing to comment on reports that US military radio and satellite communications have been impacted by this event, but civilian radio operators are reporting increased use by military units of civilian radio channels._

_There has been a report out of Europe that a number of objects were detected entering Earth's atmosphere headed towards the United States and that Air Force units were scrambled to intercept the objects just before air traffic radar went out, Pentagon spokespersons are refusing to comment on this report…"_

Coulson had a feeling that something else was going on beyond what they were seeing, but he just couldn't see or grasp it. He kept wondering what the other side's plan really was as he studied the map and went over all the information they had in his head.

General Coulson kept looking over the huge map, trying to put himself in the other commander's shoes.

_Why enter the atmosphere first over two points and then jam us? Why not jam us first and then enter the atmosphere? We're still able to vector an intercept on your projected path._

He knew that the fighters should have spotted the UFOs, but from the fragmented communications there appeared to be no targets. His mind drifted to the West coast of the country. They'd had one report of a couple of fireballs over the Pacific and nothing else. His eyes stared at the map, starting at the US-Canada border and working their way down. His eyes reached Los Angeles and he suddenly stopped and his eyes moved to an area north of LA. The town he was looking for wasn't shown on this scale of map, but he knew the approximate area and the realization hit him like a hammer.

"That crafty son of a bitch…" Coulson muttered.

"Who's crafty?" a voice from behind the General asked.

Coulson turned and saw the SECDEF giving him a puzzled look. Coulson could see that the SECDEF looked tired and frayed from the stress of the situation. The General only had a hunch and supposition to support him, but it was all starting to make some sort of crazy sense.

"Sir, remember that report about the meteor over California and the debris scattered across there and Nevada?" Coulson asked excitedly.

The SECDEF nodded his head wearily, "Yes, what about that?"

Coulson tried to keep his excitement in check, "What if that was a smaller craft from the larger craft that's by the moon?"

"That's making a big assumption, General. But okay, say that you're right. What does that have to do with this?"

"If it was us up there and one of our people crashed down here, what would we do?"

"General, I'm too tired to play—," the SECDEF paused as the thought worked its way through his tired mind, "We would mount a rescue mission!" he exclaimed.

Coulson smiled, "Exactly!"

"What about those other targets?"

"Decoys…they wanted us to see them before they started jamming!" Coulson said shaking his head in admiration at the simplicity and audacity of the plan.

"And they're coming down where?" the SECDEF asked looking at the map of the US.

"They're actually coming down over the West coast…we have that report of fireballs over the Pacific approaching California."

"But where? That's a lot of area to cover and we have fighters already in the air over the major centers." the SECDEF replied looking at the map with tired eyes.

"That anonymous call from earlier…that call tells us where they're going. Their objective is Sunnydale." Coulson said with a triumphant look on his face.

The SECDEF looked at the General incredulously and then back at the map again, "General, let's say that I believe you. The evidence you've presented is circumstantial at best. The White House will eat us alive if I divert any air force assets already deployed to cover our cities on a hunch. Besides that, our communications are still spotty at best. We can barely communicate with our planes."

The SECDEF watched as General Coulson moved closer to the map and pointed at Las Vegas, "At Nellis Air Force base, we have some of those new F-22 Raptors based there."

The SECDEF started shaking his head, "The squadron isn't operational yet…they're still doing shake down trials on that plane."

"I know, but that's our most advanced fighter with new fire-control radar and incorporating stealth. We'll need everything we've got going up against what's evidently an adversary that's highly advanced."

The SECDEF looked at the map as he considered what he'd heard and what his options were. It felt like an eternity, but only a moment passed before the SECDEF made up his mind.

"I'll make the call to Nellis and give them the order to launch and head for Sunnydale."


	15. Walk softly and carry a big gun

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN:**

**Walk softly and carry a big gun...**

_Dropship…they call it a dropship_, Buffy reminded herself as she made her way through the crowded corridor to the front of the craft that she and the others found themselves on. She'd come from a larger compartment from the back part of the ship that had been turned into a temporary hospital to treat all the injured they had. Cassie's people had brought a medic with them and he was moving between all the injured treating them. She'd left Dawn and Willow in that compartment to assist the medic with all the injured.

_It could be worse_, she thought grimacing as she recalled all the fighting and everything they had gone through and the people they'd lost in town. She let out a small sigh of relief that they hadn't lost anyone else at the airport especially after seeing Anya and Andrew both injured and unconscious.

As she made her way forward, she got a chance to see some of Cassie's people that had fought and killed huge numbers of the Turok-Hans and Bringers. She saw them take off their helmets and she was caught a little off guard to see that it was a mixed group of men and woman and they were all pretty young — the same age as Cassie or just a bit older — which made them around the same age as her. She was a little surprised at how much older they seemed to project when they had their helmets on. Her thoughts were interrupted as a man's voice came through a PA system that could be heard throughout the ship.

"Attention everyone, Make sure that you're either in a seat, on the floor or holding on to something securely. We are about to begin our take-off."

It suddenly hit Buffy that they were about to take-off and that they were on a spaceship. She still had no idea where they were headed, but her concern refocused and grew about the situation going on back in town. She'd seen the intensity of the fighting on the airfield and what they had killed back in town had surely culled the numbers of vampires and The First's servants, but with even one of those creatures running around loose, it could cause a lot of death and destruction. Her attention was distracted by a voice behind her.

"What's up B?"

Buffy turned and saw Faith coming towards her, "I got to get Cassie to tell her people to do something about Sunnydale. The Hellmouth is still open. We need to close it somehow."

Buffy turned and continued moving her way forward with Faith following behind her as they squeezed their way through the Potentials and the armored soldiers that seemed to be everywhere. She saw Spike sitting on the floor leaning against the side of the craft resting his head. She made eye contact with him as they passed by. She wanted to stop and talk to him, but there wasn't any time to waste. She made a half smile and nodded as she went past. She knew that there would be time to talk later because they now had a chance for a later. She couldn't help but notice a somewhat stunned look on his face as he looked around and tried to cope with the situation they were now all finding themselves in. Buffy spotted Giles, Xander and Robin further down the aircraft and made her way toward them.

"Where's Cassie?" Buffy asked looking around.

"She's in the cockpit…she wanted to talk to the pilots." Xander replied. Buffy couldn't help but smile a bit at seeing her friend's own amazed and stunned look as he kept looking around. Like the others he was trying to take in the reality that he was actually onboard a spaceship that was about to take off.

"How's Anya? I wanted to stick around, but it was crowded back there and the medic shooed me away." Xander said with some guilt evident in his voice.

"She's still out, but Dawn told me that the medic looked at her and she'll be alright." Buffy replied and saw him let out a sigh of relief at the news.

"What's the matter Buffy?" Giles asked as he could see that something was worrying her.

"It's the Hellmouth…we can't leave it open or have any of those vampires running around."

Giles and the others immediately picked up on and realized the seriousness of the situation. They all started immediately making their way towards where Cassie was but they found themselves blocked by a huge armored man.

"Sorry the command cabin is for authorized personnel only. You need to be getting seated as we're going to be launching in moments."

Buffy looked the huge armored man up and down and she knew that she could probably take him in the confined space, but she didn't have time to waste as she suddenly became aware of the ship moving and the reality of the whole situation became even more pressing.

"I need to talk to Cassie!"

"Who?" the armored replied with a puzzled voice.

Buffy rolled her eyes and prepared to push herself past the man, but was quickly stopped when she felt Giles's hand on her shoulder.

"Leftenant Evans…we need to talk to her it's important!" Giles said quickly as he'd seen Buffy tense and he could tell that a confrontation was only moments away and he thought it best to avoid fighting inside the spacecraft.

There was a long pause as it looked like the armored man wasn't going to do anything, but suddenly Cassie was coming up behind the armored man and they all realized that the armored man had been communicating over a radio.

"At ease Sergeant…it's okay they're with me."

"Yes ma'am." the Sergeant replied and moved slightly to the side to let everyone pass.

Xander had to hide a smile at hearing the Sergeant call Cassie "Ma'am" as it seemed so out of place for her being so young, but then he remembered that she was an officer, had seen combat and flew fighter planes that could turn into huge robots. He took some deep breaths to control himself as he felt his heart start beating faster as this new reality came pressing down on him again.

"What's the problem?" Cassie asked tiredly not noticing Xander for the moment.

Buffy didn't hesitate, "It's the Hellmouth back in town. We need to close it."

Cassie immediately realized the problem. She only had a rudimentary knowledge of what the Hellmouth was from what Xander and the others had told her. She was still trying to understand and come to grips with everything she'd heard and seen. Since being back on familiar ground — even if it was only a Horizont — Sunnydale seemed to feel unreal almost like a bad dream. She then looked at Buffy, Xander and the others and saw the dirt and blood covering her arms and clothes and the reality of it all came rushing back along with the images of those vampires and Bringers.

"You said the Hellmouth is located under the high school, right?"

Buffy and the others nodded.

Cassie pondered the situation for a moment as the dropship continued to taxi to use the full length of the runway, "Would collapsing the building on top of the Hellmouth be enough?"

Buffy and Giles looked at each other. Buffy shrugged and Giles grimaced as he wasn't sure, "It might buy us some time to come up with a more permanent solution. There is the possibility that the Turok-Hans could dig their way out…" Giles replied in an unsure tone.

"How many of those vampires were there?" Cassie asked.

"One of those is one too many…" Faith said getting some nods from the others.

Cassie got a grim look as she tried to figure out how she was going to explain the situation to Captain Coleiro as she recalled her own reactions when she'd first been told about vampires.

**oOoOo**

Cassie and the dropship pilots all winced as the voice shouted over the radio channel on their headsets.

"THEY"RE WHAT?!"

Cassie took a moment to compose herself as she made another attempt to try and explain the reality of their situation to Captain Coleiro.

"Like I said those creatures aren't aliens, sir. The ones with no eyes and carrying the knives and swords are what the locals refer to as Bringers…servants for other creatures. The bigger and meaner looking ones are…um…vampires."

Cassie saw the dropship pilots look at her in disbelief and the command cabin was quiet as there was a long pause on the radio channel. When the Captain spoke this time he was in a more controlled and somewhat calmer voice.

"Let's say I believe you and not have you sent to the headshrinkers, how does that change our situation? I was already planning to go back into town."

"Understood, sir. It's just that you have to close or at least make sure that the vampires can't get out of the Hellmouth for now."

Coleiro shook his head as he tried to come to grips with what Lieutenant Evans had told him about the "aliens" they'd been fighting. He'd heard and seen his own fair share of strange things — especially traveling back and forth across the galaxy and now finding himself in an alternate universe — but the idea that vampires, demons and monsters actually existed was really hard to accept.

_That sort of talk usually ends up with you having long talks lying on a couch followed by a long rest in a padded room..._

He let out a sigh, even if he doubted the Lieutenant's story, he'd seen the creatures with his own eyes and he couldn't dismiss any of this as wild talk.

_Maybe these creatures are aliens and over time the locals just started thinking of them as vampires and monsters…_

"Okay Lieutenant, where is this…Hellmouth and what do you want me to do about it?"

"Sir, the Hellmouth is located under the town's high school. That was the larger building that was to the north of the position we were fighting at when you arrived."

"Copy that, so if I destroy the building and cause the rubble to bury this…Hellmouth will that be enough?"

Coleiro checked his plane's missile systems as he waited for a reply. His thoughts started drifting to a more long-term solution to closing this Hellmouth.

_Hmmm…maybe a Reflex warhead dropped on top of it will close it…_

His thoughts of employing strategic weapons were interrupted as Evan's voice came back on the channel, "We think if you make sure that the Hellmouth is buried deep and you eliminate all the Bringers and vampires in town…that should stop them or at least delay them for now to allow us to come up with another plan."

"Understood…I'm heading out now and I'll take care of the problem. I'll catch up at the rendezvous point." Coleiro replied as he watched the Horizont start its take-off.

The Captain started his Battloid running for the end of the airfield that was closest to town. He shifted his Alpha to Guardian mode and hit his thrusters getting more speed and altitude. In moments he shifted into Fighter mode and his fighter was roaring in the night sky as it headed towards Sunnydale.

**oOoOo**

Major Kevin Anderson eased back on his throttle to turn off his afterburners. His F-22 had easily reached supersonic shortly after launch from Nellis. The other seven F-22's in his flight quickly joined up with him and assumed their formation as they headed west.

Anderson had been surprised that he'd received orders for his squadron to launch and deploy as they weren't at full operational status yet. He along with everyone else in his squadron had a basic knowledge of the current situation taking place over North America and at first they'd thought they were being ordered to assist with helping manage the air traffic situation. Confusion was quickly added to the surprise when they were ordered to head west and overfly a town called Sunnydale in California and report any unusual activity and be prepared to engage any hostiles. Anderson was wondering how he was going to "report any usual activity" with communications with the ground still being intermittent and who or what kind of hostiles would be flying over the US. Even with the F-22 being a new aircraft, he was extremely confident in the planes abilities as he and the rest of his squadron had been training with the aircraft for nearly a year now.

He attempted to contact ground control over military com channels. Static with the occasional word filled his headset causing him to shake his head in frustration. He'd hoped to be able to use ground control to help identify and vector him in on any potential unidentified craft as his own search and fire control radar was being degraded even with it set to full power and switching frequencies. He was relieved that he could at least communicate with the other planes in his flight over the new encrypted communications system.

"This is Spartan-Leader…everybody stay in formation and keep your eyes open. Our radar is degraded that we can barely pickup anything only a few kilometers away. Ground control is trying to make sure we have a clear flight path to our destination, climb up to flight level 330 and maintain speed. Estimated time to arrival is 20 minutes."

**oOoOo**

General Coulson was studying the huge display map of the United States when the SECDEF returned. He turned and got a funny feeling as he studied his superior's face.

"Did you get through to Nellis?" Coulson asked with concern.

The SECDEF nodded, "Yes, they should have taken off by now. I brought the President and Joint Chiefs up to speed on the current situation and apprised them of your theory of what was happening."

Coulson should have let out a sigh of relief, but the look on the SECDEF's face still bothered him, "There's something else going on?"

"The Chiefs and the NSC have advised the President that if any unidentified aircraft are encountered over Sunnydale that they are to try and force them down and if they refuse to shoot them down…"

Coulson would like to have felt that he was taken completely surprised by these turn of events but a part of him knew that this response was a possibility, but that didn't temper his response at the news, "Are they crazy!? We're dealing with an apparently highly technological advanced force and we're going to go and pick a fight with them. We should try and make contact with them first…the last thing we want is to stumble into any hostilities."

The SECDEF sighed as he understood what the General was saying, "I understand your point General, but the Chiefs and the NSC's position, which I happen to support, is that these 'people' have violated our airspace and their jamming is tantamount to an act of war.

Coulson wanted to say more to argue the decision, but he saw the look on the SECDEF's face and realized that it was better to keep his arguments to himself for now and hoped that he would get a chance to influence and defuse this situation before something happened that they would all regret.

**oOoOo**

A dark figure paced back and forth across the roof of the high school. The town was quiet now and the distant thundering and roaring sounds had faded. Fires were still burning out of control from the fighting and it gave the scene below a hellish look and feel. Normally that would have appealed to the man pacing back and forth, but his body language was one of anger and frustration.

Caleb was trying to figure out and understand what had happened. One moment, his Bringers and Turok-Hans were on the point of overwhelming and killing the Slayers along with the whole slayer line and the next huge numbers of his forces were being cut down. He was aware that something was going on at the airport as the Bringers had reported that people were gathered there and the Slayers and others had headed off in that direction. He had directed almost all the Turok-Hans to the airport and then there had been nothing reported back.

He felt an unaccustomed feeling of uncertainty grow that had started when the strange motorcycle driver had driven into town and cut down his servants. He had only a handful of Turok-Hans around the high school and Hellmouth along with Bringers. They were more vampires gathered deep down inside the Hellmouth, but they hadn't come out yet. It was almost like they were _reluctant and hesitant_ to come out and face their adversary.

Caleb scoffed at the thought of vampires being afraid of anything that any mortal could do, but a part of him couldn't dismiss the growing feeling inside of him as he recalled how that stranger had changed his motorcycle and the weapons it had used to cut down both the Bringers and Turok-Hans.

He was also troubled that The First had left and hadn't returned. Along with the uncertainty he was feeling, he suddenly felt alone — he hadn't felt this alone since he was a child. Before he could get any more introspective, his attention was diverted as he heard what sounded like thunder. In the lowlight conditions he wasn't certain what was happening. Suddenly a large jet flew over the school and Caleb was knocked to the ground by the turbulence. He got up quickly shaking off his shock and surprise at a jet flying so low. He followed the jet's movement as it turned and banked and looked like it was going to make another pass over him. It was approaching towards the area where the fighting had been.

Caleb could feel another unaccustomed emotion growing inside him as the fighter banked and came straight for him and the high school. He tried to push away the first tendrils of growing fear as the fighter came in.

**oOoOo**

Captain Coleiro had done his first pass over the town and high school using his Alpha's sensors to scan for lifeforms and target them. A predatory smile came to his face as he only picked up a small number of lifesigns that were concentrated around the target building. His sensors were also giving back strange high energy readings from under the school.

_Must be that Hellmouth that Evans reported…Time to end this…_

Coleiro shifted his fighter into Battloid mode, landing on the street where they'd been fighting not that long ago. He didn't wait or hesitate as he opened up with his EP-13 particle gun pod on the closest targets cutting them in half and incinerating them with huge bursts of plasma that were designed to take out Invid mecha and ships. The Captain moved his Battloid down the middle of the street shifting targets and making sure that none of the enemy escaped.

**oOoOo**

Caleb watched in a stunned-like trance as the fighter that had been flying towards him suddenly changed shape and was this huge robot creature walking down the middle of the street. He stood fixed to his spot on the roof unmoving even when it started firing with the huge gun it held in its hand. A flood of emotions flowed through Caleb as he watched the huge robot cut down, without mercy, the few Bringers and Turok-Hans that were left.

He watched as the robot kept moving closer to the school. He saw movement as one Bringer tried to flee this demon-robot. He was transfixed as the robot crushed the fleeing Bringer underneath its huge metal foot without even a pause. The robot finally stopped about two hundred yards from the front of the school and an eerie silence descended once again over the town.

**oOoOo**

Coleiro looked at the figure standing on the roof of the building in front of him. He could tell by his sensors that the "person" was human, but Coleiro could tell that this _person_ was connected somehow with these…_creatures_.

The Captain's finger stroked the weapons trigger on his flight stick. He was so focused on the person on top of the school that he was caught completely off-guard when his external microphones picked up a voice.

"Paul…"

It took a moment for Coleiro to register and recognize the voice. As his mind processed the voice a floodgate of memories and emotions opened up and engulfed him.

_It can't be… She's dead…_

He found himself afraid to look down and for a long moment he uncharacteristically hesitated, but the voice spoke again.

"Paul…it's me."

Memories of a ruined and charred battlefield on a distant planet replayed through the Captain's mind. The memory of her desperate voice coming through the com channel was as clear as the day it had happened. He'd been so wrapped up in the fighting and killing — revelling in the destruction — that he didn't come to her aid when she needed him the most. He had pulled her broken and dying body from the wreckage of her Alpha and had held her in his arms begging for forgiveness and crying to God to take him instead — that he was the one that didn't deserve to live.

Coleiro fought the growing pain as he didn't want to look down, but he gave in and he tilted his Battloid's head down and he felt his heart freeze as he saw the young woman with short-cropped blond hair wearing an old style REF uniform that hadn't been in use for over a decade.

His throat felt as dry as a desert and he found it hard to speak as he looked at the young woman. His voice finally croaked out a single word in a hushed tone, "Sonia…"

"Paul…it's me. Why don't you come out and see me. We have so much to talk about. I know that you've missed me." the young woman said flashing a smile towards the Battloid.

Coleiro found his hand slipping from his flight stick. He was having trouble breathing as memories hammered at him. He found his thoughts wandering and he started to move his hand to shift his Battloid to Guardian mode so he could get out and go see her.

His fingers touched the lever marked "G" on his console, but it froze as a small voice in the back of his mind shouted to be heard. Coleiro paused as the small voice told him to think over what he was doing.

He could hear Sonia's voice calling to him to come see her and he warred with himself to stop and look at the situation. The small voice pointed out several things that he'd missed. One — his sensors weren't picking up any lifesigns from Sonia…almost like she wasn't there. Two — Sonia had been dead for nearly fifteen years and the small voice was telling him that rationally that couldn't be his Sonia. Three — the man on the building rooftop was looking at the whole scene with almost an evil-looking laughing smirk on his face. It all mixed together with the memories he was having to relive and it struck a nerve and set him off.

**oOoOo**

Caleb had been surprised to see a young woman appear on the ground in front of the school. He was confused at first, but when he heard the woman calling to the giant robot he realized it was The First and his master was playing with the person inside the giant robot.

He watched as the robot stopped its advance and stood there unmoving looking down at the apparition. The robot's huge gun dropped to its side and Caleb could see that his master was going to convince the person inside to come out and then the situation would change back to their advantage. The ex-priest couldn't help himself as he moved closer to lean over the edge of the roof to take in the scene better. The apparition, that The First had assumed, was a beautiful looking young woman in her mid-twenties with short blonde hair. She was wearing a strange outfit but you could tell she was trim and in shape by the way that the outfit clung to her body. Caleb actually felt some stirrings of lust as he took in the form. He couldn't help himself as a smirk came to his face as he watched The First play the fool inside the robot. He found it hard to keep from laughing knowing that the fool inside the robot was doomed and then things would get interesting.

Caleb was still smirking as the first wave of missiles was launched towards him…

**oOoOo**

Paul barely managed to keep some semblance of control and didn't fire all his attack missiles at once. He fired his missiles in waves as he shifted positions to obliterate the building and make sure that the Hellmouth was buried.

He could hear Sonia's voice yelling at him to stop what he was doing. He tried to shut out her voice, but she kept screaming that he was killing her — just like he done that day. His eyes burned as he emptied his missile launchers at the building tearing into it with huge explosions. Paul screamed and swore as he tried to push Sonia's voice from his head and the memories back down as he kept up the barrage of missiles at the building.

It was over in moments. Paul kept pressing the weapons trigger, but he heard nothing as his launchers were dry. He found himself spent and breathing hard as he tried to get control of himself.

"Look what you did!" came an angry voice.

Paul looked down and saw Sonia or whatever it was in Sonia's form standing in front of the rubble untouched by the missile barrage. His Alpha's sensors still showed no lifeform reading, but he could see her standing there glaring up at him with a hateful look. His anger flared again and he didn't hesitate as he raised his Battloid's foot and crushed down on the being that looked like Sonia. He blinked in shock as he saw his foot pass through Sonia's image, leaving the upper part of her body sticking out of the Battloid's foot.

"You think you can fight me? You think you can kill me? I'm not some simple demon or vampire. I am something that you can't even conceive. I am The First Evil. I am beyond sin, beyond death. I am the thing that the darkness fears. I am everywhere…in every being, every thought, every drop of hate." the image of Sonia sneered looking up at the Battloid.

Paul was beyond pissed now looking at this _creature_ that had usurped the image of someone that was precious to him. His anger was getting the best of him and he was about to threaten to drop every Reflex and nuke warhead he had on the Arcadia on top of this place, but suddenly his com channel came to life.

"Reaper-One…this is Watcher-One."

Coleiro took a moment to slow down his breathing and compose himself as he heard the call for him again. He activated his com channel and spoke brusquely, "Reaper-One here…what's the problem?"

There was a pause on the com channel and then the voice spoke again, "Uh sir, we've being keeping an eye out for any threats…"

_Shit_, Paul thought as his mind snapped back to where he was and what was happening. He managed to push down his anger and rage for the moment and focus on the voice on the com channel as it continued speaking.

"…we've picked up eight aircraft moving into the area. They must have gotten a sniff of Pelican-One as the bogeys have increased their speed to over Mach 2 and are on an intercept course."

_Double-shit!_

"Tell Pelican-One to evade and get them to increase speed and altitude. I'm on my way." Paul said as he backed up and turned his Battloid around.

"They've already started evasive maneuvers but the bogeys present a small radar signature that we didn't pick them up and until they got really close and increased their speed. They're going to be all over Pelican-One in moments." replied the voice for Watcher-One.

Paul started to move further from the rubble that had once been the local high school, but a familiar voice called out to him.

"Going so soon? Having some problems are you?" the First Evil sneered once again.

Paul stopped and turned his Battloid around to face the creature, his voice was low but it projected the anger and hate he felt as he looked at the image of Sonia, "I don't know what the hell you are, but I swear I will make it my mission in life to find a way to kill you and I will personally end you."

He didn't wait for any reply as Pelican-One needed him and he started running hitting his thrusters to get some air. He quickly shifted to Fighter mode and hit his afterburners roaring off into the night sky.

**oOoOo**

It had been a stroke of pure luck that one of Major Anderson's fighters had managed to get a target return through all the interference. They had caught the target climbing and just starting to gain speed. Anderson ordered his flight to pursue and at first he thought they would easily catch up to the big target. He was surprised and he heard the exclamations of surprise from the other pilots as the target's engines lit up and it started to accelerate and pull away. There was no hesitation as the Raptor pilots hit their afterburners in pursuit.

At this altitude, the night sky was just starting to catch the first rays of the dawning sun from the east. Major Anderson had to blink as he could make out the silhouette of a huge craft that was trying to put distance between them. Even in the dark conditions and range, he could easily see that the craft wasn't like anything he'd ever seen or heard about before. The front of the craft was connected to the body with a long neck — almost like a swan. For such a large craft it had power as it had to be pushing at least Mach 2 as his F-22 and the rest of his flight were pushing nearly Mach 2.2 to close the range.

Anderson tried hailing the craft, but all he got was static on the channels he tried. He swore as he tried to get a radar lock for his AMRAAM missiles, but couldn't get a lock-on through the radar interference.

"Spartan flight…this is Spartan Leader, can anyone get a radar lock to engage?"

Anderson swore again to himself as he heard the negative replies. The brief thought of firing off one of his AMRAAM missiles and letting its onboard radar have a try at a lock-on was quickly pushed aside as the last thing he wanted was one of his missiles flying around searching across the sky for targets — that could have nasty repercussions for him and his flight. He watched the target through his HUD and from the readouts on one of his cockpit LCD panels, he could see that the craft was engaging evasive maneuvers. That made it evident that they were aware that they were being pursued.

_You can run, but you can't hide_, the Major thought as a small predatory smile formed on his face.

"Spartan Flight, close the range and if they refuse to respond or follow us we should be able to use our sidewinders."

The Major put the throttle to the firewall and his body was pushed back into his ejection seat from the g-forces as his fighter surged forward with power. They were closing the range with the unidentified craft as it kept climbing.

They were passing 50,000 feet and the larger craft showed no signs of leveling off as it kept climbing rapidly. Anderson had hoped to make contact with the UFO and force it down, but they would soon be hitting the operational ceiling for the Raptor. Any thoughts or doubts quickly disappeared as his training kicked in as he heard the lock-on tone in his helmet.

"I got tone…Fox Two!" Anderson said as he pressed the weapons trigger on his flight stick. He felt his plane shudder as the weapons bay doors opened and an AIM-9 Sidewinder heat seeking missile dropped from the bay and the rocket motor ignited. The Major had his helmet visor down so the flash from the missile's motor didn't disrupt his night vision as it roared away from his fighter on a fast trajectory towards the target.

He watched as the missile arched up streaking towards the target. Anderson had a brief thought that maybe the warhead of the AIM-9 would be too small to take out the large craft, but at this altitude and speeds they were moving, any damage to a plane was usually fatal.

In seconds everything suddenly changed as Anderson's radar warning receiver went off filling his ears with alarms. He wasn't the only one as the com channels filled with the voices of the pilots in his flight.

_"…I've been locked on!"_

_"…where's the bogey!?"_

Anderson craned his neck and started to take evasive maneuvers as he tried to figure out what this new threat was, "Spartan Flight, break formation! Find that bogey!"

Streaks of bright light that looked like tracers being fired passed through his flight and took out the sidewinder missile. The pilots in the F-22s were trying to recover when a dark menacing-looking craft streaked past them headed towards the larger craft.

The Major was stunned as he'd never seen a Sidewinder taken out before. He felt out of sorts and at a loss for a brief moment, but his training kicked in and he tried to get control of this rapidly changing situation.

"Spartan-Five take your section and get on that new bogey's six. You are cleared for weapons-free! I'll continue pursuit of the larger target with my section."

Anderson heard the acknowledgements as his warning receiver still buzzed. He saw a plane flash by and instinctively knew that it wasn't one of his. Seeing how close he was, he yanked back on his flight stick, disregarding his own orders and turned his fighter to pursue.

**oOoOo**

Coleiro banked his Alpha for another pass and applied more thrust. He turned his head from side to side keeping his eyes open for threats. He glanced at his sensor display and could tell that the fighters were taking evasive action. He quickly noted that five of the fighters were turning to pursue him. His emotions were still raw from his encounter on the ground and part of him wanted to vent his anger and rage against the fighters in the air, but the small voice was telling him to rein it back in — these pilots hadn't done anything to deserve to die.

Even with the small voice trying to keep him in some sort of control, he still couldn't let these fighters intercept the dropship. He needed to buy the Horizont time to put some distance and altitude between it and these fighters. It was probably lucky that he'd used all his missiles up against the high school as he had target locks on all the fighters when he made his approach and it would have been so easy — and tempting — to have taken them all out in one pass.

He kept his Alpha moving, banking hard and sweeping back to the other group of fighters that were trying to intercept the dropship. Another one of those fighters fired a missile and Paul reacted instantly firing a long burst from his gun pod catching the missile and setting it off in a huge explosion. His sensors started displaying warnings and a buzzer went off as his warning receiver went off. He immediately pulled back on his stick and banked hard left at the same time deploying counter-measures.

**oOoOo**

Anderson swore while grunting from the excessive high-g's pressing down on his body. He was in a prime position and had gotten tone and launched a heat-seeker at the fighter. If he'd blinked he would have missed it as the unidentified fighter banked and deployed what looked like flares to decoy the missile. It wasn't the move itself that was astonishing, it was how fast it was done and how smoothly like the unidentified aircraft was alive and reacted like a living being.

The Major kept pushing his Raptor to try and stay on the strange fighter's six. He kept trying to match the maneuvers that the other fighter was doing and Anderson was having a hard time maintaining his position. The other pilots in his flight were converging from different aspects and it was only a matter of time before one of them got a clear shot.

**oOoOo**

Paul felt the G's push him back in his seat and his vision was graying out as his jinked and banked across the sky. He was trying really hard to not kill any of the other pilots as they were only doing their duty, but he could see that going against these odds it was only a matter of time before they got a clean shot at him.

His mind drifted as the thought of just ordering the Horizont to break for orbit played in his head. They could hit full thrusters and easily outrun these fighters and get back to the Arcadia. Old memories danced in his head as his warning receiver chimed more warnings.

_This would be a good death…_

Paul shook his head pushing the tiredness and old memories to the back of his mind — back behind the wall he'd built.

_Not today…_

He knew that these guys were playing for keeps and he had to do something as he pushed his throttle forward and bore down on the three fighters that were still chasing the dropship.

_Time to take the gloves off…_

**oOoOo**

Anderson saw that unidentified fighter was looping back towards the rest of his flight that was still chasing the bigger craft. He felt a bad feeling grow and he screamed out a warning as the fighter came up fast and hard. He saw short bursts of tracer fire from the unidentified fighter reach out and catch the three F-22s. Each burst was less than a second and caught each Raptor in one of their engines. He saw smoke and fire burst from the planes. Anderson felt his stomach sink and a lump in his throat as he heard cries over the com channels from his pilots.

_"…I'm hit… …Engine out… …Losing power… …Can't maintain speed and altitude…"_

In seconds Anderson had lost almost half his flight as he watched as his damaged fighters started losing altitude trailing smoke. What astonished him even more was that it looked like the shots had been _aimed_ to take out a specific spot on his fighters. He shook off the thought as he tried to keep up with the other fighter. The thought that you could aim a precise shot from a fighter moving at supersonic speeds was unheard of…wasn't it?

**oOoOo**

Paul had a self-satisfying smirk on his face as he banked his fighter and moved to make a pass at another fighter. He fired a short burst to take out one of the two engines in another one of the fighters chasing him.

_My aerial gunnery instructor would be so proud…_

He recalled a story his dad told him as a child of how the Zentraedi attacked the SDF-1 just after Max and Miriya Sterling's wedding. Miriya had told the RDF about an inherent design weakness in the Zentraedi Battle Pods. The RDF pilots could take out the weak point, crippling the pod but not killing the pilot. It became a sort of contest among the RDF pilots to see how many they could take out. That it was in such a difficult spot made it that more challenging for them. Paul started to smile as he recalled his dad telling him how he'd taken out five pods in one pass, but the smile quickly faded as other old memories started leaking out from behind his wall.

With the sensors and optics on the Alpha, aiming for one engine on these dual-engine planes was child's play in comparison to aiming for a small joint on a Battle Pod's leg. There were still inherent dangers as Paul had to make sure that the shots were precise to go through the one engine and not set off the fuel tank. Even if the pilots of those fights lost the other engine, they at least had time to get to a lower altitude and speed before ejecting.

_Better to give them a chance rather than just killing them…_

**oOoOo**

Anderson swore again as he felt rage and growing fear as he saw and heard two more of fighters get hit and fall out of the battle. All thoughts of going after the bigger craft were gone as it had put distance and altitude between them and the ongoing dogfight. The sky was just dawning and it was getting easier to see the unidentified fighter and make out details. The Major had never seen a fighter use black and red for its fuselage colors. The colors gave the fighter a more menacing look especially with the graphic Grim Reaper on the vertical tail stabilizers. Even though he was flying one of the world's most advanced fighters, he found himself wishing that he could get a chance to spend some time in that other fighter's cockpit to check it out.

The Major pushed those wishful thoughts aside as he pulled back hard on his stick and found himself on the unknown's six o'clock position. This time he was real close.

"GUNS! GUNS! GUNS!" he shouted as he pressed his weapons trigger and tracer fire spat out from his 20mm Vulcan cannon. The range and angle were good as he watched the tracers reach out and tag the other fighter.

**oOoOo**

Paul felt his Alpha shudder and quickly glanced and saw more tracer fire from the fighter on his tail. He glanced at his display screen and let out a small sigh of relief as no damage was reported. He gave a small thankful prayer to the plane's designers that had incorporated Chobham armor into the plane's skin. The armor had been designed to offer protection against Zentraedi high velocity cannons and Invid plasma rounds.

_Still…all it takes is one lucky shot_, Paul thought as he twisted and banked his fighter as more tracer rounds reached out for his fighter with some striking and glancing off his fuselage. He kept maneuvering his fighter, but the pursuing fighter was now tight on his tail.

_Time to change things up_, he thought as his hand reached for the controller marked "G".

**oOoOo**

Major Anderson stayed tight on the tail of the unidentified fighter. He watched in frustration as another burst from his 20mm cannon glanced off the unknown's fuselage. He heard the familiar whining tone telling him that he'd gotten a lock-on with his last heat seeker. His finger started to press the weapons trigger.

Anderson's eyes went wide and he slammed his flight stick forward to push his fighter's nose down. The unknown fighter seemed to stop in mid-air and it looked like it was breaking apart as the outline of the plane seemed to change. As he passed underneath the unknown fighter, he found himself looking up, it looked like it was doing a back-flip over top of him — which he knew was impossible. He blinked in disbelief as he could have sworn that he saw arms and hands sticking out of the fighter.

He was still in shock from what he'd witnessed that he took too long a moment to realize that the unknown fighter had changed positions and was now on his six. Reality came crashing down in a rush as Anderson felt his plane shudder. Almost immediately alarms sounded and warning messages flashed filling his cockpit. He knew instinctively that his aircraft was heavily damaged as he felt his Raptor losing speed and altitude. He struggled with the controls, swearing as he tried to keep his fighter level, trying to figure out where he was and where the nearest airfield was that he could try to put down at — he really didn't want to eject. He could have sworn that he passed over an airfield not too long ago and he kept looking around for it as he struggled with his fighter. All thoughts about the status of his flight was pushed to the back of his mind for the moment as his primary focus was trying to get his aircraft — and himself — back safely on the ground.

He keyed open his radio, trying to keep his voice controlled and professional as he spoke, "Mayday…Mayday…This is Spartan-One… Have taken heavy damage…I'm declaring an emergency… "

**oOoOo**

Spartan-Three watched with a mixture of disbelief, anger and fear as he watched his flight leader's plane losing altitude and trailing smoke. He'd seen what their adversary's fighter had done and was still trying to believe that what'd he'd witnessed had actually happened.

_They'll lock me up in a padded room if I tell they what I just saw_, the pilot thought as the realization that only him and his wingman — Spartan-Four — were the only planes left from their flight.

"Spartan-Four stay close…let's bracket him and we'll fire everything we got. He can't avoid all our missiles."

Spartan-Three heard his wingman's response and it sounded more confident than he'd sounded when he proposed his plan, but then Spartan-Four hadn't seen what he'd seen.

The last pair of F-22s stayed on the tail of the unknown fighter as they juked and weaved across the sky. It felt like an eternity, but Spartan-Three realized it had been only a few minutes as they managed to finally close the distance and line up for a clear shot on the intruder's tail.

"Fire! Fox-Three! Fox-Two!" Spartan-Three ordered.

The designers of the F-22 Raptor would have been proud. The fighter had never been tested to fire so many missiles at once and if you'd asked the designers they would have told you that it wasn't possible. Spartan-Three and Four fired all the missiles they had left and watched them streak in on their quarry. Both pilots thought that there was no way that their opponent could stand up against their missile barrage, but then they were still both thinking in earthly terms.

"What the hell?!" Spartan-Three muttered as he saw something that before tonight he'd would have said was impossible.

Their opponent seemed to pull up and stop in mid-air and for a moment the Raptor pilots thought that the plane they were facing off against had some sort of VTOL capability — like a Harrier. Those thoughts instantly changed as the fighter not only stopped in mid-air but started to appear to change its shape. Time slowed down for both Raptor pilots as they watched in pure astonishment at the scene unfolding in front of them.

_My God! It can't be! That's impossible!_ Spartan-Three thought as he finally realized how outclassed they were as he found himself looking at a huge robot hovering in the sky and holding a huge gun in its hands.

The robot didn't hesitate as it opened up with its weapon towards the incoming missiles. As the robot fired it moved across the sky effortlessly dodging missiles while taking them out with its gun and counter-measures.

Spartan-Three froze for a split second at the scene as the missile explosion subsided. Reality came crashing back down with a vengeance as his fighter shuddered and heaved. Alarms went off and the pilot belatedly realized that he'd been hit. He caught a glimpse of smoke and flames shooting from his wingman's plane as he struggled with his flight controls. He tried to keep his plane level as he lost engine power and altitude. Like his flight leader and the others before, he started sending out a mayday while looking for an airfield to try and set down at or at least get down to a lower altitude to eject if he had to.

As he continued to lose altitude and struggle with his damaged plane, Spartan-Three managed to glance back up through his canopy. He managed to catch a final look at their adversary. The robot was still hovering almost like it was looking down on them. He then saw it change back into a recognizable plane shape, taking off at great speed headed upward.


	16. That's one angry man…

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN:**

**That's one angry man…**

General Coulson leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes alternating between massaging the bridge of his nose and rubbing his eyes as he tried to push away the pain of the ongoing headache he was suffering with. A brief thought of having more coffee passed through his mind, but his stomach made a loud gurgling noise in response as he'd lost track of the number of coffees he'd already had.

Coulson shelved the pain away for the moment as there were more pressing concerns and problems. The jamming over the continent had suddenly stopped several hours ago and military communications along with the radar systems were slowly being restored. There was still a lot of speculation and rumors being bandied about on the news and Internet about what the cause was. The Pentagon was just as puzzled about the sudden return of normalcy and was using this pause to organize and deploy forces in the event that it started up again. Coulson wasn't as concerned about another "attack" as he was working from the assumption that their unknown visitor had achieved their mission objectives and returned back to space. He'd been in touch with his contacts in Russia and China and they had reported getting radar tracks of a formation of "unidentified objects" on a trajectory course for the moon.

If the jamming had been all that had occurred he could have probably managed to contain and control the situation long enough for cooler heads to prevail. The encounter and defeat of eight of the US Air Force's new premier fighter jet against a single adversary had sent shock waves through the Pentagon and the Whitehouse. Coulson hadn't been invited to those meetings, but from his sources the JCS were freaking out and going bat shit crazy. It hadn't mattered that all the pilots survived their encounter. Three brand new F-22's had been lost when their pilots had been forced to eject due to battle damage with the pilots managing to walk away with only minor injuries. If that hadn't been bad enough several of the damaged Raptors managed to make emergency landings at the airport near Sunnydale.

Coulson already had some of his people on the scene to try and asses and contain the situation along with gathering much needed information and intel. He was hoping it wouldn't be too much longer before Finn was on-site in Sunnydale, as the General needed his expertise to tell him what the hell was going on there. The first reports, he'd received, stated that a battle — that appeared very one-sided — had taken place at the airport. As a precaution he'd managed to convince the SECDEF to authorize the National Guard to mobilize and establish a 10 mile cordon around Sunnydale using the cover story of a chemical spill and that all the inhabitants had already been evacuated during the night.

At first light, he had Apache gunships overfly the town. They reported no movement or sign of life in the town. They indicated that there were fires burning out of control and signs of fighting around town. What was most important was that the gunship pilots reported that the high school, which stood over the Hellmouth, had been completely obliterated leaving a huge pile of rubble covering the site.

The General was perplexed as he tried to figure out what their unknown visitor was up to. He leaned forward and used his mouse to click on the video clip that had been sent to him by his sources. He'd already viewed the F-22 gun camera footage several times. As he once again watched the video play, on his monitor, he still found himself watching in awe as the huge robot hovered in the dawning sky dodging and taking out the best missiles in the USAF's inventory with a huge looking gun with what appeared to look like very little effort.

He studied the outline and markings on the machine and his mind wandered trying to figure out what their visitor would do next.

_They engage in a huge firefight in town and the airfield leaving a wasteland in their wake, but they almost go out of their way to try and avoid causing casualties among our pilots… What're they up to? What do they want? What's their next move? Is there any way we can communicate with them?_

With the image of the robot/fighter etched firmly in his mind, Coulson closed his eyes again leaning back in his chair. He pondered these questions and wondered if there was anything that he could do.

**oOoOo**

After the fighting in town, at the airfield and the dogfight in the sky, the docking with the Horizont was almost anti-climactic. That didn't diminish the risk or danger, but the docking went without a hitch and under the five minute window. Once the Alpha had docked with the dropship, the pilots hit their main thrusters and the Horizont blasted upward into space quickly achieving escape velocity. Paul informed the dropship that he was going to stay inside his Alpha for the return trip.

The dropship pilots were a bit puzzled over their commander's behavior when they were informed of his intentions, but they weren't going to argue with him as they could hear the angry tone in his voice and the last thing they needed was to face the infamous "Coleiro temper", so they went back to focusing on joining up with the shuttles and setting a path back to rendezvous with the Arcadia.

Paul slumped exhausted in his seat as he felt the dropship climb and accelerate. His emotions were raw and he felt drained from the fighting and encounter with whatever was in that town pretending to be Sonia. He could still feel his anger bubbling just under the surface and he wanted to be alone right now as he needed to try and decompress and deal with all the feelings and memories that had been brought back after laying dormant for all these years. Also from talking to the dropship pilots, it was pretty crowded with his people, the pilot they rescued and the extra passengers they'd picked up. He had no doubts or second guessing about his decision to bring them aboard, they were now just a convenient excuse for him to be left alone.

Even with his emotions and memories running at full blast, the small voice in his head was speaking again. It was telling him that he still had duties and responsibilities to take care off. He pushed aside his emotions for the moment and opened a com channel to the Arcadia.

"Arcadia…Arcadia…this is Reaper-One, do you read me?"

He didn't have to wait long before he got a reply.

"We read you Reaper-One… Hanson here sir."

Coleiro took a deep breath to try and calm and steady himself again, "Lieutenant, the mission was a success with no casualties, but we have picked up some extra passengers."

The Captain smirked as he heard the puzzling tone in Hanson's voice, "Sir?"

"Long story Lieutenant, but it looks like we're going to have unexpected house guests. I want you to make arrangements for quarters, co-ordinate with Pelican-One on numbers…have medics ready as we have wounded."

"Yes, sir! We'll have everything ready by the time you dock."

"Lieutenant…"

"Sir?"

"I want all the armories secured and implement ship security protocol Bravo-Four…these people are our guests, but I don't them wandering into critical areas unescorted. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!"

**oOoOo**

In another part of the dropship, Buffy tiredly sat down beside Spike. He turned his head and gave her a small smirk, "For a while I didn't think we would make it Slayer."

Buffy snorted and a small smile formed on her face, "I had no doubt we would make it."

Spike took in her smile and basked in it. Looking at her and seeing her smile at him made him feel like a man again and he revelled in the feeling every time, "Liar…I saw your face as we were being chased by those fighters and you were white as a sheet. The first time I'd seen you look that way before." he said still smirking.

Buffy laughed and then let out a sigh, "Okay I'm busted…I'm not a great flyer. I get a little nervous when flying."

When the pilots had announced that the dropship was being pursued by jet fighters, there had been a few tense and anxious moments among everyone as they did their best to hold on and remain calm as the ship accelerated and made some not so calming turns and banks to try and avoid the fighters. Some of the people had been tossed about — which resulted in some cuts and bruises — by the rapid maneuvers. The ship had been as quiet as a graveyard during that time. Then almost as suddenly as it had begun it was over. The pilots had provided an update to their passengers as to what had happened to the pursuing fighters. Buffy and the others found themselves dealing with mixed emotions as they found out that it had been US fighters that had been taken out, but then they were the ones that were being targeted by those same fighters. She was just happy that they were still alive and that the dropship was no longer bouncing around the sky. They had just been informed that they had just broken orbit and heading into space.

Buffy had thought that she was equipped to deal with any situation and normally could handle anything that Sunnydale threw at her, but being in a spacecraft chased by fighter jets and now heading out into space was pushing even her boundaries. She looked around her and surprisingly the ship had finally settled down into a more relaxed and quiet state, despite the fact that they were in space. Cassie's people had broken out food and water containers and distributed them among their passengers and everyone had taken the opportunity to quench their thirst and grab a meal. She'd hadn't thought too much of the emergency rations at first, but she had to admit after a couple of bites that it tasted not bad and filled her stomach. Buffy could feel a weight leaving her shoulders for the moment. She seemed to be not the only one feeling the sense of relief as she noticed people were now either resting or talking very quietly amongst themselves. They had all managed to survive and escape Sunnydale and the Hellmouth for now, but Buffy knew they would still have to deal with it. For the moment though, she could push those thoughts to the back of her mind and relax and not have to worry about Dawn, her friends and the Potentials.

Spike had a look of astonishment on his face at her admission and fought to hold back a laugh, "You? You're afraid of flying? That's bloody priceless!" he said in a low voice as a bigger smirk came to his face.

"Hey! It's an honest to goodness fear! You're afraid of stakes, the sun, holy water for me it's flying!"

"I just find it hard to believe that you're afraid of flying. I guess you'll have some time to face your fear as we've got a couple of hours before we land where ever we're headed."

Buffy nodded, she along with everyone else had been kept apprised by the pilots that they would take several hours to reach their destination. She knew that they were headed to a larger ship, but it felt so unreal to her. They were headed to a new unknown, but it wasn't like the scary unknowns that they'd constantly had to face as a result of living in Sunnydale.

"I think I'd rather face that fear right now than being back down there. I think we'll be okay for now." Buffy said as she suddenly felt the tiredness pull at her. She noticed a funny look cross Spike's face.

"What's wrong?"

"Yeah about all this working out and having happy endings…I'm kinda of worried love of how these people will react to me being a vampire. I don't think that they carry around pigs in their spaceships or have a supply of pig's blood lying around. I still got to feed."

Buffy heard Spike's concern and the realization hit her as the weight suddenly returned. She hadn't given any thought to his food requirements and she felt a wave of guilt start to build up at how inconsiderate and forgetful she'd been towards him.

"Cassie knows who and what you are…I'm sure we can find something to keep you from starving." she said trying to ease his and her worries as there was little they could do right now.

_We'll figure something out_, she thought as her mind started to try and think of alternate solutions to Spike's food supply problem.

Even with those worries, the tiredness and exhaustion beckoned and Buffy found herself leaning her head against Spike's shoulder as her eyes suddenly felt heavy and weighted down. She wanted to focus on Spike's problem, but a small voice in the back of her head was telling her to just rest and close her eyes for a few minutes and forget about everything. She found herself snuggling in closer to Spike as she closed her eyes and a small contented smile came to her face as she felt Spike's arm move and wrap around her bringing her in closer to him. Her mind started to let go of her worries and concerns as the first stirrings of dreams reached for her. As she drifted off, she felt safe and at ease that she didn't hear what Spike said in a low whisper. He'd seen how tired she was and hadn't wanted to bother her anymore at the moment with his problems.

"I hope so love…I really hope so."

**oOoOo**

Dawn let out a sigh as she sat down on the floor next to Willow who was already seated and had her eyes closed and head leaning back against the wall of the spacecraft. Dawn was caught a little off-guard when Willow spoke to her with her eyes still shut.

"You okay?"

Dawn sighed again, "Yeah, I'm just tired…you know been a busy day and all that."

Willow snorted, but even that sounded tired, "Yeah, I hear you. Did the medic finally tell you to take a break?"

"If you mean that cute-looking blonde with blue green eyes, then yes he did." Dawn said with a smile and tired laugh.

Willow had noticed the medic too, but for different reasons. She couldn't help but notice that he'd been very serious and professional for someone that looked like he wasn't much older than her. He'd checked each injured person out and administered medication and bandaged them up when needed. He'd worked tirelessly making sure that all the injured were taken care of and made stable. She let out another sigh of relief that no one was suffering life threatening injuries.

Willow had checked up on Anya before she'd taken her break. She figured that Xander would probably be trying to make his way back here to check on her. With it being so crowded aboard the spacecraft, the medic was only allowing the injured and those assisting him in the area. She was planning to go forward after her break to let him know Anya's status and check the ship out. As she listened to Dawn go on about how cute the medic was, she made a mental note to let Buffy know that she may need to chaperone her sister once they got to where they were going.

Willow opened her tired eyes and looked at the water container she had in her hand. She lifted it up and watched and felt the weight in the container and the movement of her arm.

"What's wrong?"

Willow was slightly startled as she'd been so focused on what she'd been doing that she'd tuned out Dawn for a moment.

"Huh? What?"

"Earth calling Willow…what's wrong?"

"Oh sorry…I was just checking out gravity."

Dawn gave the Wiccan a funny look.

Willow picked up on Dawn's puzzlement, "It's strange everything I knew or watched about space had me expecting that we would experience weightlessness or low gravity, but it feels like if we're still on the ground."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No…it's just not what I was expecting from being in space. They must have developed something that provides an artificial gravity environment."

Dawn shook her head slowly, "You should stop thinking so much and close your eyes and rest."

Willow let out a little laugh as she found that her body thought that was a good idea and she closed her eyes again.

**oOoOo**

Xander was having a good dream hearing a soft beautiful voice saying his name over and over again when he suddenly found himself being woken up by a hand touching him lightly on the shoulder. He fought to stay asleep to keep listening to the voice saying his name, but as consciousness returned he realized it was from the waking world that the voice was calling his name from. He opened his eyes and was greeted by Cassie with a small smile on her face.

"Hey." Xander said waking up more and stretching slowly.

"Hey yourself." Cassie said as her smile got bigger.

"Something wrong?"

"No, everything's good. We're just getting into visual range of the Arcadia and will be landing in less than twenty minutes. I thought you might want to come forward and take a look."

Xander let out a little sigh of relief as for a moment there he'd thought that something had happened to Anya. Willow had come forward a couple of hours earlier to reassure him that she was going to be okay. With his guilt somewhat at ease he'd been finally able to close his eyes and rest.

"You're kidding…right?" Xander replied in disbelief not sure if he was still dreaming or not.

"No I'm not and you're not dreaming." Cassie answered back, as if reading his mind, leaning in and pinching his arm.

"Ouch! Okay…okay I believe you!" Xander replied with a laugh pushing Cassie's hand away and standing up to follow her, "Lead on."

Cassie smiled again as she held out her hand and Xander didn't hesitate as he took it and had her lead him to the command cabin. The last time he'd been there, he hadn't gotten a good look at it. This time though he was brought all the way in and he found his himself breathless and speechless as he looked out the front windows of the ship to see the moon's surface large and looming off to their left. As he looked into the void of space, he suddenly felt small and insignificant as he grasped the vastness and emptiness of space.

"Whoa…" he said in a hushed whisper as he found himself holding his breath.

"Pretty cool isn't it," Cassie said watching Xander's reactions and recalling her first trip into space when she was back in the academy. She found herself enjoying his almost child-like wonderment as his head turned side to side to take it all in. Watching him made her temporarily push aside the conversation that she'd had with the dropship pilots. She'd peppered them with questions about the battle and how they'd gotten here to this Earth. She felt her heart sink as the pilots brought her up to speed on the situation as they knew it. The pain that she'd felt when she first found out where she was started to come back as she learned that Commodore Lau and two thirds of the crew were "gone". She'd managed to fight off a mild panic attack when informed that the Arcadia's fighter screen consisted of Captain Coleiro and now herself.

"Space…the final frontier…" Xander muttered in a low whisper.

"Huh?"

Xander shook himself back to the moment as he remembered where he was, "Uh nothing…just something I remembered from an old TV show I used to watch."

Cassie looked at him with a slightly puzzled look but shrugged it off, "There! Just coming into view now, you can see the Arcadia." she said pointing in a direction.

It took Xander a moment, but he finally saw a small object that seemed to standout against the darkness of space. He was a little surprised by how fast Cassie had spotted the object, but then he reminded himself that she was a fighter pilot and good vision was a major requirement and he was down one eye.

"Is that…?"

"Yup, that's the Arcadia." Cassie replied.

As the Horizont got closer to the cruiser, Xander started to realize how big the ship was in comparison to them. He could also start to make out more details of the ship and even with his inexperienced eye could easily discern that the ship had been in battle as there were obvious signs of damage to the outer hull.

Cassie saw the damage too and the previous conversation with the pilots came rushing back. It mixed with her memories of the battle and she found herself feeling a little lost again.

"You okay?"

Cassie shook off the thoughts and memories and nodded giving him a small smile.

Xander could see that something was bothering her and was going to ask about it, but before he could a voice filled the command cabin.

_"Pelican-One…this is Reaper-One. Ready to disengage."_

Xander watched as the pilots went about their work in an almost casual and effortless way but looking and sounding professional and efficient.

"That's a roger Reaper-One. Ready to disengage on your mark." one of the pilots replied sounding almost casual about the whole affair.

Xander listened as the com channel came alive again with the other voice.

_"Five…four…three…two…Mark!"_

_"I'm clear Pelican-One…see you back in the barn."_

"That's an affirmative, Reaper-One. See you on board."

Xander had jumped a bit as he felt the ship shudder and jumped again as he felt a hand lightly touch his arm.

"It's okay…that was just the fighter disengaging from the dropship. It has to land in a different part of the ship than us." Cassie said trying to keep her smirk in check at seeing Xander's mild panic attack.

"There was a fighter attached to us?"

"Yes, our standard fighters can't reach and break orbit without an add-on module or booster rocket. Normally some of our fighters have an add-on, that's called the Beta, attached to it. It has bigger, more powerful engines and carries more missiles. Makes the Alpha an even more badass machine." Cassie said still smiling as she watched and felt the dropship start its approach to go underneath the Arcadia to dock in the Horizont landing bay.

"That was the fighter that became the robot back down at the airport?"

Cassie nodded as she saw Xander work out everything in his mind so that he understood what was happening.

Xander thought for a moment before replying, "I don't know who that guy was flying that fighter, but he sounded more angry than happy to be back here."

**oOoOo**

Paul took a deep breath as he saw the flight deck crewman wave for him to cut power. He hit the switches and the display screens and flight controls shut off one by one. He sat there for a long moment, his thoughts and emotions still in turmoil. He was still angry, he hadn't been this angry in years and he could feel the old urges — to strike out and hit something — that he'd manage to keep in check for years, starting to come back along with the old memories and feelings he'd kept buried for years.

He didn't notice the flight deck crew giving him curious looks as he exited his fighter and headed for the hanger bay exit. He'd almost escaped the bay, when a voice caught him from behind causing him to stop.

"You getting a little soft in your old age? You didn't go for the kills like you normally do?"

Paul stopped in his tracks. He'd been half expecting the Chief to be on the deck when he landed and he'd been hoping to avoid her as his emotions and feelings were all over the place and the last thing he wanted to do was talk about what he'd seen and was feeling, "Knock it off Chief…I'm too tired for this."

Chief Larson wasn't going to leave it alone. She'd been listening in on communications during the rescue mission and she'd known the Captain for a long time that she'd picked up from the tone in his voice that something was seriously bothering him.

"You could have easily taken them out…instead you just shot out their engines." Larson said baiting her commander and friend.

Paul ignored the Chief's retort and turned to leave the hanger bay. This worried her even more as the Captain still hadn't removed his helmet yet and she got a cold shiver through her body as her memory recalled those times when he'd acted like this and they were anything but the "good old days". She decided to try a different tack.

"I hear that it was quite the fight on the surface and you brought back some passengers with you."

Larson let out a small sigh of relief as she saw the Captain stop and turn to look at her.

_At least that's a start_, she thought as he looked at her with his helmet still on.

"I wasn't going to leave them behind… For those pilots, they didn't deserve to die for doing their duty. They're not our enemy." Coleiro replied in a slightly softer tone.

Larson figured as much, but she wanted to hear it directly from him. She'd seen all his moods and temperaments and she knew that he was pissed off about something. She also knew that he would only tell her when he was ready, but she could at least try to get him to focus on something else to get him to calm down. She knew that the Captain had built up his walls over the years to deal with his problems. She didn't agree with it, but she respected him enough not to interfere or tear at the walls. She'd tried that once and it had almost cost her their friendship.

"Did something happen planet-side?" she asked trying to feel out the Captain and find out what had happened to him.

"Leave it alone Chief." Paul said in a tone that implied he wasn't going to discuss it further.

Larson shook her head sadly as she watched the Captain leave the hanger bay. She was still at a loss trying to figure out what could have happened to set him off.

_I haven't seen him this bad since she died…_

**oOoOo**

Giles was having a moment trying to decide if he was awake or still asleep and dreaming as he walked down the ramp of the spacecraft. He was greeted by the bright lights and people dressed in strange uniforms rushing around helping to unload the wounded and gather those that were uninjured and organize them. He saw the same look of feeling out of place and unsureness as the others joined him at the bottom of the ramp.

"So what now?" Buffy asked as her head spun around taking in the landing bay along with everyone else.

Giles was at a loss as he watched the uniformed people help off the wounded and put them on stretchers and saw more medical personnel helping them, "I guess we wait and find out what happens next."

"I've never been one to sit around." Faith yawned as she stretched and looked around.

"Well it's not like we can walk home." Xander replied.

"I wouldn't mind having one of those fancy motorcycles, those things are really kickass." Faith said with a smirk.

Xander was about to respond with a sarcastic reply about how useless a motorcycle was in space, when Cassie walked up accompanied by another person in a uniform.

"Everybody…this is Lieutenant Hanson, he's in charge."

Everyone looked the young man up and down and they could see he was a little uncomfortable with the situation that had been dropped on him. Hanson saw himself being looked over and he quickly took a deep breath and took charge like he'd been instructed to.

"We're moving all the wounded to medical. We want everyone to follow and get a quick scan and then we've got quarters set aside for everyone to use and get some rest. There's a cafeteria on the deck where we have your quarters and they're ready to serve up food on request."

"I'm not going to be poked and prodded!" Faith said in an upset tone.

Hanson turned and looked at the brunette and he meet her eyes. Any thoughts of trying to stare her down quickly evaporated as he saw the intense look in her eyes. The only other people he'd seen with a similar look was on the older veterans like Captain Coleiro.

"Its standard procedure…they want to make sure we're okay and not carrying anything foreign and that you're not exposed to anything that'll make you sick." Cassie said quickly stepping in to assist the Lieutenant.

"I think we should follow their lead." Giles added as he thought the best thing was to co-operate and find out what was going on and what they were going to do next.

_For now_, he left unsaid as he made eye contact with Buffy and she nodded her understanding.

Faith let out a sigh as the others started to follow Cassie and the Lieutenant and gather up the other Potentials and follow the medical personnel that were taking the wounded out of the landing bay.

"But I so hate needles." Faith said resignedly as she followed the others.


	17. Why is Heaven such an angry place?

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:**

**Why is Heaven such an angry place?**

Paul finally took off his helmet, letting it drop to the floor as the door to his quarters closed behind him. He knew that he 'd gotten funny looks from those few crew that he'd passed on the way to his quarters, but then he didn't care right now what they were thinking. He took deep breaths to again try and relax, but as he did his eyes drifted over to his desk and the picture frame that sat there. He moved slowly towards the desk with eyes locked on the picture like a heat-seeker.

The picture was one of his few prized possessions that he had left from a life time of service and traveling across the galaxy. It was a picture of him and Sonia in better days just after the REF had liberated Tirol, before the darker days of the never ending war with the Invid and the REF Civil War against T.R. Edwards and finally her death. Paul felt his eyes burn as he looked at her beautiful happy face and could feel his walls starting to crumble. Other memories came flooding back…his parents and baby sister, New Macross on that last day, living in that shithole in Brasília and the things he'd had done to survive there.

_No…No…No…_ he thought angrily as he fought to push the old memories back behind his wall.

He took more deep breaths trying to focus and regain his self-control. He found he couldn't stand looking at the picture anymore as her face mingled with the face of that _thing_ he'd encountered down on the planet. A part of him wanted to throw the picture away, but it was the only thing that he had left of her. Pulling open his desk drawer, he shoved the picture in. Closing it quickly as if that would make the old memories and feelings go away.

Paul could feel himself starting to crash as he got out of his body armor, he didn't bother getting out of his uniform as he collapsed on his bed falling into a deep and dream-filled sleep.

**oOoOo**

Riley Finn could only shake his head as he viewed Sunnydale from inside the Humvee he rode. The convoy, of which his Humvee was lead vehicle of, moved slowly through the eerily quiet streets. The Humvee turret gunners anxiously swivelled their turrets back and forth looking for and ready to respond to any threat with a mix of M134 Minigun and Mk 19 grenade launcher weapons fire.

Riley was filled with memories and mixed emotions as he took in the empty streets. He had already been out at the airport and checked over the remains of the huge firefight that had taken place there and was trying to get to grips as to what could have happened here and to the people that he knew.

Before the convoy went to the high school and the Hellmouth, Riley had them take a detour first. The convoy turned on to Revello Drive as memories came back of all the times he'd spent with her at her house.

"STOP THE VEHICLE!" Riley shouted.

The Humvee driver was caught by surprise, but he obeyed quickly slamming on the brakes. The other vehicles, in the convoy, slammed their brakes coming to a halt. Gunners nervously swung their weapons around in half expectation that they were under attack.

Before anyone could say anything, Riley was out of the vehicle walking in daze down the street. He'd seen the smoke rising as they had gotten closer to her house, but he'd refused to believe the worse as he stopped in his tracks looking at the burnt out remains of the house that once stood at 1630 Revello Drive.

Riley stood there as memories and old feelings swept over him as he looked at the burned out building and the charred bodies surrounding it. A quietness hung over the scene that pulled at him as his mind raced trying to grasp and take it all in. A voice final broke the spell.

"You okay?"

It took Riley a moment to recover and he turned to face his wife who was standing behind him. He could see the look of concern on her face. He finally shook off his shock enough that he could voice his thoughts.

"Yeah," he said turning back to face the smoldering ruins again, "Yeah…I just can't believe it. I figured it would be bad, but this…it just doesn't feel real."

Samantha Finn looked over the scene of devastation and her husband, she knew a little about his relationship with Buffy and had actually met her briefly once when they had been through here for a mission last year. From what she'd been able to find out about Buffy made her admire and respect her for what she'd done and had to face. But seeing the look and expression on her husband's face set off a small voice warning her that maybe Riley had understated — if not fully divulged — the level of his and Buffy's relationship to her. She quickly pushed those worrying thoughts aside as they had to focus on their mission right now. She was as perplexed and confused as her husband was as to what had happened here and at the airport.

"Do you think any of those bodies are them?" she asked a little anxiously as she studied the same scene as her husband — but with a little more detachment than him.

It took a long moment and Samantha was going to ask him if he was alright, but Riley replied with his voice still hard but sounding a little relieved, "No…the bodies are all on the outside. They're spaced out like they were attacking the house and got cut down trying to get in."

"Could they have still been inside the house when it…?" Samantha asked.

"No…if they died in the house, then how would you explain what happened at the airport. This happened first...almost like they drew their enemy in, to cut them down and thin their ranks…almost military style."

_She wouldn't have died like this…she would've never gone out this way_, Riley left unsaid as old memories and emotions rushed through him.

"The airport was the last stop…we saw the school bus there. Plus some of those bodies look like those Harbingers of Death we've dealt with in the past." Riley replied as he kept looking over the bodies and burned out remains of the house.

"Maybe we should get over to the high school and check out the Hellmouth." Samantha said as she kept a concerned eye on her husband.

"Yeah…we should get over there." Riley said in a flat tone, finally turning away from the scene of devastation and walking back to the convoy.

**oOoOo**

During the drive over to the high school, Riley found his mind wandering as he studied the empty quiet houses they passed by. Samantha and he had been in Peru dealing with a demon nest when they got the call from General Coulson to return to the States ASAP and head to Sunnydale. The General hadn't been too forth coming as to the whys, other than it was urgent. Riley knew that if it involved Sunnydale, then Buffy was involved and it was probably serious — most likely world ending.

They were lucky that their flight was on final approach to Houston when the solar flares hit causing the continental radar blackout. That had delayed them from taking another flight to Edwards Air Force base, but they quickly improvised and "appropriated" a couple of Blackhawk choppers to carry their team and equipment to their staging area. At first Riley hadn't given much thought to the "solar disturbance" and was too busy, getting ready for the mission, to pay attention to the almost hysterical levels of news reporting, but after talking to the General he went back through the information and started to think that something else was going on that was causing the blackout and it involved Sunnydale somehow.

_It's not what he said, but what he didn't say and how he said it_, Riley thought as he recalled the strange conversation with the General and then going back and sifting through all the news reports trying to piece together what was going on.

He'd been literally expecting all hell to be breaking loose when he arrived in Sunnydale, but even he wasn't prepared for the scene when they touched down at Sunnydale's airport. He'd found himself in shock as they approached and saw evident signs that a battle had taken place that had involved some pretty heavy firepower. There had been craters, burned out buildings, bullet holes and an overturned school bus that indicated that heavy fighting had occurred.

What had been most disturbing were the scorched marks everywhere that indicated intense heat and energy. One of his team members studied the marks and his first conclusions were that they had been caused by some sort of high intensity laser, but US forces had nothing like that operational or even at the field testing phase — at least nothing at the power levels that seemed to be indicated by the evidence at the scene.

Riley had also been surprised that when they landed that there were two of those brand new F-22 Raptors sitting parked on the runway. He found out that they had made emergency landings here after suffering "battle damage". He'd wanted to question the pilots to get more info about what had caused their "battle damage", but any chance of that was quickly interrupted as a massive convoy of black SUVs pulled on to the field ushering the pilots away and forming a security cordon around the planes. Keeping everyone away except for a few select individuals in black suits that were crawling over and under the fighters recording everything and taking samples from the fuselages.

There was too much going on at the same time to not be connected. One of the black-suited agents had tried to keep Riley and his team from going into Sunnydale, but one call to General Coulson quickly changed that. Though those agents from the unnamed agency weren't going to stop him and his team, they didn't go out of their way to assist them either and Riley and his team had to cool their heels at the airport while they waited for some Humvees to be "appropriated" to drive into Sunnydale.

As they got closer to the high school — and the Hellmouth — Riley could feel his nervousness increase. Even going in during the middle of the day, he was still apprehensive as to what they would be facing, but other than the occasional Apache gunship flying over it was all quiet, which just increased his tension levels.

When they turned on to the street where the school was, they were greeted with sights that indicated that fighting had taken place here as well. It wasn't to the same levels as the airport, but it had been intense fighting nonetheless. The convoy made its way around the burned out cars and the soldiers inside shook their heads in disbelief, seeing the bodies and damage around them. The convoy finally came to a stop.

"Where's the high school?" Samantha asked looking around.

It took Riley a moment to recover as he looked at the pile of smoldering rubble and realized that was their destination.

"There…" he said nodding his head in the direction where everyone turned and looked in shock.

"Jesus…" the driver of the Humvee muttered.

"That's one person you can be sure of that has never walked through this town." Riley replied as he shook off his shock and got out of the vehicle. It was quiet, but he was still alert as he knew exactly where they were and the potential evil and danger that lurked here.

"Keep your eyes and ears open…and I don't want anyone wandering off by themselves!" he ordered as he started checking the scene.

The rest of his team moved out in pairs taking their team leader's words to heart as they had seen enough to understand the dangers they faced.

It was later that Riley was on an encrypted satellite phone with General Coulson giving him a situational report.

"What's your take on it?" Coulson asked over the crackling phone as there was a slight delay due to lag and the security encryption on the channel.

"It wasn't what I was expecting." Riley replied still confused and puzzled over the mystery that had been dropped in his lap.

"Any sign of Summers or the others?"

"No…and that's what worries me. We found the remains of several humans…female, a large number of bodies which we have identified as demon servants, classification 'Harbingers of Death' and lots and lots of dust that our testing equipment shows positive for organic compounds indicating remains of vampires," Riley paused, "Do you have any more info that you can provide?" he asked trying to probe the General as he suspected that Coulson knew more of what was going on than what he was telling him.

Riley's suspicions were confirmed as there was a long pause over the line — that wasn't caused by the lag — before Coulson replied, "No…there's nothing that I can add right now."

Coulson knew that Riley suspected something more was going on and he quickly changed the subject, "What's your take on the situation? What's the threat level from the Hellmouth?"

Riley sighed as he picked up easily what the General was doing, but he decided to play along for now, "We're dealing with someone or something that has some serious firepower. The Hellmouth and town are quiet right now. Someone got really pissed off and did a pretty good demolitions job on the school. They blasted it apart and made sure that it collapsed over the Hellmouth. If something wants in or out of there, they'll have to bring some heavy equipment or a pretty big shovel."

The General was curious over Riley's choice of words, "Why did up you say shovel?"

Riley paused as he tried to put into words what Samantha had described to him and he'd seen as well here and at the airport, "Sir…it's just that we've seen evidence. It may be nothing once we get everything into the lab, but we've found indents in the ground here and at the airport and the strange thing is that they almost appear foot-like," he paused again still not quite sure if he should tell the General what they thought it was, but he decided that this wasn't the time to hold back, "Whatever left these tracks, it was something big and appears to be bipedal. If these are 'footprints', from the size and depth we estimate this unknown to be about thirty feet tall."

**oOoOo**

Paul groggily opened his eyes as the communicator, on his bedside table, annoyingly beeped to get his attention. He shook his head to clear the tiredness and the disturbing dreams he'd had from his mind. He could still feel his anger lingering even in his half-awake state. He took a deep breath to try and calm himself down before he answered the call. His mind still played the dreams over that he'd had. For a moment he debated about ignoring the call, but he finally decided to answer it.

"Coleiro here." he answered in a tired voice.

"Lieutenant Hanson here. Sorry to disturb you sir, but we have a…uhhh…situation here in Medical with the people you brought back."

"Can't you handle it Lieutenant?"

"Sir, I think you need to come down here…"

"What is it?" Paul asked as he could hear voices being raised in the background like people were arguing.

"It's…complicated and I don't think you would believe me if I told you." Hanson answered in a confused voice.

"Lieutenant, I've seen a lot of weird shit in the last twenty-four hours, so I don't think anything you tell me would surprise me right now." Paul responded feeling tired and confused by the Lieutenant's refusal to provide any more information about his situation.

"It's just…please sir, if you would just come down to Medical it would be easier."

Paul sighed in resignation as he knew that the Lieutenant needed help and there was also the fact that he probably wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, "Okay…okay, I'll be down in less than ten."

"Thank you, sir!" Hanson said as Paul cut the com channel. A small smirk came to his face as he couldn't help but hear the sound of relief in the Lieutenant's voice as he agreed to come down.

**oOoOo**

_She found herself watching a battle in the hallways of a school. She recognized it as Sunnydale High School and the whole building was filled with voices yelling and screaming, with the roars of Turok-Hans echoing through the hallways. It was a strange dream as she found herself watching herself and Andrew fighting off Bringers as they rushed and tried to swarm them. She couldn't help but feel strange watching herself, but she was mesmerized as she watched the pair fight off the Bringers and then suddenly in a blink of an eye it was over. Anya found herself wanting to scream as she watched her other self get sliced in half, by a Bringer wielding a sword, her body falling to the hallway floor already dead. She stared at her dead body on the floor in shock. She finally became aware of the whole building violently shaking when she heard Xander calling out her name and running past her body. She wanted to scream to get his attention as he kept on running calling her name as he hadn't see her body lying on the floor, mixed in with the dead bodies of the Bringers she'd killed…_

Anya slowly felt herself gaining consciousness and the first thing she became aware of was the arguing voices. She couldn't make out what they were saying, but there were a number of male and female voices and they seemed to be getting louder and angrier. As she slowly became aware of her surroundings she could pick out and recognize some of the voices and some of what they were saying.

_"…he's not alive…"_

_"…he's like one of those creatures down on the surface…"_

_"…put those guns down, he's not going to hurt any of you…"_

_"…I have no problems if you want to throw him out into space…"_

_"…if I go, I'm taking you with me, you sodding mouth breather…We'll see who can breathe in space…"_

_"Stop it! No one is going to throw anyone out into space and no one is going to shoot Spike!"_

_"I've called the Captain and he's coming down and we can sort out this situation…"_

As Anya became even more aware and her mind tried to process the voices, thoughts drifted through her head.

_Sounds like heaven is a pretty angry place…Buffy had said that heaven was a peaceful happy place when she was there. Oh God! Maybe I'm in the other place. Why would I be there…I fought for the good side...Oh yeah…all that time being a vengeance demon. You would think that God could maybe turn a blind eye to that. Hopefully that other Anya got to go there…_

**oOoOo**

All Cassie wanted was to have a shower and get some rack time, but she found herself in the middle of another serious situation that was looking like it could easily get out of hand. Everything had been going well, they had all headed down to Medical — with Faith still grumbling — to get checked out and for the wounded to be taken care of. She should have said something before the medtech started going over everyone with a medical hand scanner. It was only when the medtech ran the scanner over Spike and the expression on her face changed that Cassie realized what the problem was. Before she could say anything the medtech was calling for security and armed guards were rushing in with weapons drawn.

She sighed as she realized that the medical scanner was giving off no life signs and with Spike looking human that was going to set off security alarms. Buffy beat her to the spot, getting between the security personnel and Spike.

"STAND DOWN! THAT'S AN ORDER!" Cassie shouted as she joined Buffy acting as a buffer between Spike and the REF personnel.

"Lieutenant, he's not human…he doesn't even give off any life signs!" the medtech nervously exclaimed.

Spike spoke up with a smirk on his face, "Of course I don't have any life signs, I'm dead you git."

"You're not helping Spike." Buffy said with an exasperated sigh keeping her eyes on the security personnel.

"HHHow can he be moving and talking, if he's dead?" the medtech asked in a confused voice.

"Don't do it Spike!" Cassie pleaded knowing what he was going to say and do and dreading the reaction from the REF personnel.

Spike ignored Cassie and gave the medtech a leering smile, "That's because I'm a bloody vampire." he said in a matter of fact way as he changed his face to show everyone his true face.

Complete pandemonium broke out in the room.

**oOoOo**

Captain Coleiro could hear the raised voices as he got closer to the medical section. He let out an exasperated sigh and wondered what could be causing the ruckus in there.

_Probably someone afraid of needles or hates hospitals…_

Paul entered the triage area and he blinked as he saw his people on one side of the room, with weapons drawn pointing at a blond-haired man wearing a long black leather coat. Lieutenant Evans and one of the people from the planet — a young woman with blond hair — were standing between the man and his people, acting like a buffer. It seemed that everyone was arguing and pointing. He could easily see that the situation was out of control.

_It's time to regain control…_

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" Coleiro shouted.

**oOoOo**

The people in the room hadn't noticed the Captain's entrance, except for Faith who had moved over into one of the corners to get a good view of the show. She was planning to jump in to help out Buffy if things went bad, but for now she was just glad that they weren't going to be sticking her with needles and it was kind of fun to watch the mayhem take place and knowing that for once she wasn't the cause of it. She was having a hard time keeping from laughing out loud as Xander had decided to join the fray, offering to help the soldiers throw Spike into an air lock and launch him into space.

When Faith saw an older looking man enter the room, her smile disappeared as she saw the look on his face and could tell that he was pissed off.

_Things are about to get really interesting_, she thought as she studied the man and then heard him shout.

**oOoOo**

Paul had caught everyone by surprise and for a moment everyone stared at him. He caught a glimpse of the brunette that he pulled out of that town standing in the corner of the room studying him and for a brief second he felt his mouth twitch into an almost smile. He quickly pushed it down as he heard Lieutenant Hanson's voice.

"CAPTAIN ON DECK!"

Paul watched as his people — including Lieutenant Evans — came to immediate ramrod attention. The people from the planet stood with stunned and puzzled looks on their faces, except for the blond man, blond woman and the brunette.

"At ease." Paul said in a slightly softer tone, watching his people stand at ease and letting out breathes of relief.

"Lieutenant Hanson, Report!"

Paul kept a hard look on his face as Hanson came forward and stood at attention in front of him.

"Sir, we were running medical scans on the passengers you brought back when we ran into a problem…"

"What problem, Lieutenant?"

It was at that moment that Spike decided that he should add his part to the conversation and explain who and what he was and to tell everyone to sod off! He didn't know who this new guy was, but it would be a cold day in hell before he would be bowing or taking orders from this fool. Before Buffy or Cassie could say anything or stop him, he stepped forward towards the two officers.

"I think the problem here Admiral is that your people don't know what to do with me because I'm a vampire…"

**oOoOo**

Faith found herself studying the new guy and watching his body language. There was something familiar about him, but she couldn't place it. When she saw Spike step forward and start speaking, she smirked and started shaking her head slowly.

_Not a good move there Spike_, she thought watching Spike take a difficult situation and make it worse.

As Spike spoke, she picked up slight changes in the older man's body language and her Slayer senses started sending her warnings. The word vampire had barely left Spike's mouth when the man moved.

**oOoOo**

Spike had barely finished his sentence, when he suddenly found himself looking directly into the barrel of one of those fancy laser guns. He could see the man's finger on the trigger and hear the weapon whining.

Everyone in the room had been taken by surprise especially Buffy and Faith. They had never seen anyone, except for themselves, move that fast before. In one blindingly fast movement, the man had reached out and pulled a weapon from the holster of the Lieutenant and now had it pointing directly at Spike's head.

Cassie was the first to overcome her surprise shouting out, "SIR, HE'S A FRIENDLY!"

Spike managed to recover somewhat and a nervous smile came to his face, "Easy there Admiral…like the bird there said, I'm a friendly…you know a good guy. Hooray us…"

Spike actually gulped as he found himself looking into dark eyes and heard a hard low voice.

"You're a vampire…give me a fucking reason why I shouldn't burn a hole through your head!" Paul said in a low hard voice as his finger stroked the trigger of the Gallant.

"STOP IT! HE'S WITH US!" Buffy shouted as she started to move slowly towards them to intervene.

Spike saw Buffy moving towards them out of the corner of his eye. He knew that she was going to try and take away the weapon from this man, but he'd seen how quick this guy was and he knew that Buffy wouldn't get here in time. There was now the risk that this man could end up shooting Buffy and that was something he couldn't let happen.

Spike looked past the barrel of the weapon that was pointed at his head. He'd seen what this weapon could do and knew that he was nothing but a pile of dust if this guy pulled the trigger. He met the dark eyes of the man, holding the weapon, and saw the eyes of someone that had killed before. He kept staring into those eyes, he knew that he couldn't stare down this man. He could see that this man had seen too much — like himself.

In that moment everything became clear to Spike, he hadn't been able to look into a mirror since he'd become a vampire, but looking into the man's eyes he saw a reflection of himself. This was a different feeling from what he got when he looked into Buffy's eyes. The feeling that stood out was one that he'd been fighting with, ever since he'd been re-souled — _regret_.

"Sorry mate, I can think of hundreds of reasons for you to pull that trigger, but I can't think of a single reason for you not to." Spike said in a low voice that was tinged with sadness and regret.

Cassie watched the showdown holding her breath, she saw Buffy and Faith slowly moving to intervene and stop Captain Coleiro, but she knew that they wouldn't make it in time if he decided to fire.

"Sir…Spike is a vampire, but he has a soul…he's with us. The others trust him and I do too," Cassie said in a calm neutral voice. She heard Xander snort at the trust part, but she ignored him and continued on, "Sir, you need to put down the weapon and we can discuss this."

Everyone held their breath not knowing which way the situation was going to unfold. After what seemed like an eternity, everyone let out a collective sigh of relief as the man took his finger off the trigger and pulled the weapon back, no longer pointing it at Spike.

**oOoOo**

Paul took a long moment as his fingered tightened on the Gallant's trigger, but that small voice, in the back of his head, managed to exert some control and he realized that he needed to reign it back in and find out what was going on. He let out a deep breath and while not taking his eyes off the vampire, he handed the sidearm back to a pale looking Lieutenant Hanson.

_These people may trust this creature, but I'm responsible for this ship and the safety of everyone onboard..._

Paul stepped in closer towards the creature, not breaking eye contact and not blinking. He didn't expect to stare down the creature, but he wanted to make sure that this creature understood who he was dealing with.

"If I see or hear about you stepping out of line…if I even think you're putting my ship and people at risk…I will end you. Do I make myself perfectly clear?" Paul said in a low angry tone that only he and the vampire could hear.

Spike looked into the man's eyes and had no doubts that this man would kill him with no hesitation or remorse, "Perfectly." Spike replied in the same low voice.

Paul stepped back and looked at Lieutenant Evans and then Lieutenant Hanson, "Lieutenant Hanson, I want the medical checks finished up and quarters assigned to our guests."

"Yes, sir. I was planning on using the quarters on deck eight." Hanson replied while looking greatly relieved that the situation was calming down.

There was a pause and everyone in the room was surprised to see the Captain get a little smirk on his face, "I think we can do better for our guests, we can use the command quarters on deck three. Those are much nicer accommodations, wouldn't you agree Lieutenant."

"Yes, sir. I'll take care of it and make sure that everything is squared away." Lieutenant Hanson replied coming to attention.

"Very good, Lieutenant."

Paul then turned towards Cassie, "Lieutenant Evans."

"Sir!"

"I want a debriefing with you in three hours on the observation deck."

"Yes, sir!"

"I assume that our guests have someone in charge that can represent them."

"Yes, sir! There's—" Cassie started to say, but the Captain cut her off.

"I can meet them after we've finished with our debriefing and we can discuss our situation and what we're going to do next."

"Understood, sir."

Paul nodded to Cassie and then took a quick look around the room, trying to get a quick sense of the people he'd brought aboard his ship. He briefly thought about doing some introductions, but he wasn't in the mood for it and it would be probably best to let things cool down and go from there.

"Carry on then." Paul said taking one final look around the room noting some of the looks he was getting from the new people. He then turned and left as quickly and quietly as he'd entered the room.

**oOoOo**

Faith watched the older man leave the room.

_The guy moves like a ghost_, she thought taking note and appraising the man after everything she'd witnessed. She made her way over to Cassie and Buffy followed suit.

"Who was that guy?" Buffy asked shaking her head slowly still not believing what she'd seen.

"That was Captain Coleiro. He's in command of the Arcadia." Cassie answered feeling greatly relieved that a firefight hadn't broken out in Medical.

"If you ask my opinion, he takes himself too seriously." Faith said with a smirk.

"Did you not see how fast he moved?" Buffy said with slight awe in her voice still not believing she'd actual seen someone with reflexes that fast before.

"Okay…I'll give you that. He was pretty fast," Faith admitted somewhat grudgingly, "But it takes more than reflexes in a fight."

"Oh he's more than just reflexes." Cassie said shaking her head as she couldn't believe that she was hearing Faith trash one of the REF's few "living" legends.

"What do you base that on?" Faith asked somewhat questioningly.

"Who do you think was driving the Cyclone and the fighter back down on Earth that saved all our asses?" Cassie said looking back towards the door that Captain Coleiro had exited out through. She didn't see the surprised looks from both Buffy and Faith at hearing this news.


	18. That pretty much sums up the situation…

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:**

**That pretty much sums up the situation…**

Paul wanted to close his eyes and massage the temples of his head to push back the headache he was getting. He was listening to Lieutenant Evans as she was giving her report of what had happened to her and her activities and observations since the battle with the Invid and those unknown aliens to her arrival here and her recovery from the planet. He made mental notes about some of the things — _creatures_ — she'd encountered down there that he wanted to follow up on, especially the thing called The First Evil.

_I've got a lot of questions for our "guests", I hope they can give me answers_, Paul thought as his mind wandered back to his encounter with The First as he still felt his blood boil at the lingering memory.

He suddenly realized that Evans was finished and was looking at him. He recovered quickly, "Ahem…Thank you Lieutenant, I appreciate the situation you were thrown into and how you handled yourself is a credit to the REF and the uniform you wear."

Cassie had to struggle not to gush getting high praise from Captain Coleiro, but she managed to contain her enthusiasm only betraying the hint of a smile.

Paul suppressed his own smile as he could see the young Lieutenant trying to contain her excitement. He pushed any warm feelings down as he had to move on to more serious business.

"Lieutenant, as you're probably aware our situation is precarious."

"Yes, sir."

"We're apparently stuck in an alternate universe in orbit around an Earth that would probably shoot first and ask questions later after our little visit to the surface. We have no support or reinforcements. We've lost two-thirds of our crew…and the Arcadia's fighter group consists of myself and you."

"Yes, sir." Cassie said with a slight gulp hoping that the Captain hadn't noticed. She was once again feeling the enormity of the situation she was facing. She pushed down a little voice of doubt in the back of her head that was nagging at her.

"And to top it off, it appears that this Earth has demons and vampires running across the planet…if I understand the situation correctly."

"Yes, sir. That pretty much sums up the situation."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. I just want to ask one thing…WHAT THE HELL YOU WERE THINKING BRINGING ONE OF THOSE CREATURES ON THIS SHIP!"

Cassie blinked in surprise at the Captain's outburst and it took her a moment to recover and put together her response, "Sir…about Spike…the others trust him and I trust them…I trust them with my life." she said in a crisp and sure voice.

Paul studied the Lieutenant for a long moment and could detect her nervousness, but he'd heard the tone in her voice. He let out a little sigh, "Okay Lieutenant, I'll accept your word on this. I've already made my feelings known of what will happen to this…Spike, if he steps out of line. Do you hear me Lieutenant?"

Cassie gulped hard as she heard the hard tone in the Captain's voice, "Crystal, sir."

"Is there anything else I need to know about this group of people we've picked up? I'm not going to find out that one of them is a unicorn, a werewolf or a wizard, am I?" he said with a small laugh.

Cassie gulped again as she quickly tried to figure out how she was going to explain who and what everyone was, "Uh…sir, about that." she said with a little nervous laugh.

**oOoOo**

Buffy found her head turning in every direction as her, Giles, Dawn, Willow, Xander and Robin were being led by a soldier through the ship towards a bank of elevators. She was still trying to get a grasp on everything she was seeing. She knew that the others were gawking, like her, except for Giles who was studying the surroundings with his typical English reserve, trying not to betray any emotion. Buffy could tell by his body language that he was just as excited and nervous as the rest of them.

Buffy was feeling a little more relaxed now, compared to when they'd first arrived onboard and after the incident in the hospital area. They'd been given quarters that were pretty comfortable and spacious. Some of the Potentials had to bunk up, but after the close quarters of the house back in Sunnydale, these rooms seemed almost empty in comparison.

They'd been given a quick tour of the area they'd been assigned and needless to say Buffy and the others were impressed, especially that they had access to their own dining area and that there was a gymnasium with a pool also available. Their tour guide, Lieutenant Hanson, had also told them that there were other dining/cafeteria areas along with other amenities on the other decks that they could use as well. The young and cute looking —according to Dawn —Lieutenant informed them that the ship worked on a standard 24-hour day/night schedule and that some services were only available during day hours unless there was an emergency.

Buffy had a good laugh at the poor Lieutenant's expense as the look on his face had been priceless when there had been a huge collective sigh followed by a squeal of delight when he informed them that there were private showers with their quarters and that there was plenty of hot water.

She couldn't believe how helpful and friendly the crew were being as they made extra clothing, towels and toiletries available for her and the others to use. Buffy couldn't believe that this was real as it almost felt like they were on some sort of luxury cruise, but then reality reared its ugly head as she noted that there were armed security guards at the passage entrances to the area where their rooms were located. Even though there was no apparent threat, she decided to keep her guard up and keep an eye on things.

A few hours went by and everyone was getting settled into their quarters, with the group splitting up between exploring, grabbing some food, sleep or a hot shower. Buffy had been momentarily surprised when a soldier came into the area, calling for her by name. What was even more surprising was when the soldier asked her and whoever else was a part of her "command team" to follow him to something called the "observation deck" to meet with the Captain.

Buffy had tried not to laugh at the soldier as he referred to her and the Scoobies as a "command team". They weren't anything close to being an organized unit — not for a lack of trying. It just wasn't in their DNA to organize like that. She'd had some exposure to how the military mindset worked from when she'd worked briefly with The Initiative. Doctor Walsh had commented on Buffy's lack of teamwork and her "lone wolf" attitude — before she'd tried to kill her. Buffy worked with others when it was needed and she appreciated the help from others, but she knew that in the end that being the Slayer meant that she — and Faith — were ultimately on their own. She did acknowledge and again appreciate that her friends had been there for her and given her strength at those crucial times. They were one of the reasons she was still alive after this long.

_Maybe not being "organized" is one of the reasons we've been successful and survived this long_, she thought as she went to gather the "command team" to go meet the Captain.

She was a little put off that Faith decided to pass on this meeting. As she'd put it, "That's your thing B, plus this is the first comfortable bed and privacy I've had in a long time. You can give me the scoop later, but right now I just want to catch some zzzz's."

Buffy had gathered Giles, Xander, Willow, Dawn and Robin to accompany her to meet the Captain. Anya was still in the hospital and Buffy decided that after the encounter between the Captain and Spike that it was better to keep things cooled down for now and left him behind. Spike didn't raise any complaints about not going to meet the Captain again. She did make a mental note to discuss with the Captain about meeting Spike's "dietary needs".

They rode the elevator up to what they thought was their destination. As the doors opened and they walked out on to the deck, Buffy smirked as she heard Xander gasp. It took her a moment as she looked around at the banks and stations of computers and display screens to realize that she was in the command center of the ship. She saw an observation window that showed the outside and even though she wasn't that familiar with spaceships, she found herself pretty impressed with the layout. She smiled as she caught Xander gawking towards a large chair that was in the center of the room and dominated the other stations. She figured that was where the Captain sat when the ship was moving. She thought she heard Xander mumbling, but she wasn't sure if she'd heard him right as he was saying something about "Mister Sulu…go to Warp 5", as he stared at the large chair and then towards the other stations and then the observation window showing space.

She looked around and didn't see Cassie or the Captain. She was wondering where they were, when she and the others were caught off guard by the soldier asking them to follow him to another elevator. Everyone looked at each other with puzzled looks. Buffy wasn't going to argue or debate the situation, so she shrugged and followed the soldier on to the other elevator with the others trailing close behind.

As they rode this other elevator to what now appeared to be their final destination, Buffy actually felt a little nervous, which she found strange and different. She found herself trying to figure out how she should approach the Captain. Her only exposure to the military besides Cassie had been with Riley and The Initiative and that hadn't ended on good terms. She tried to keep an open mind and not judge the Captain based on what she'd seen in the hospital. She knew that there was so much more to him as Faith had told her the story about her "encounter" with the Captain back in Sunnydale. She hoped that the Captain was like Cassie, but she was leaning to that maybe the Captain was probably more like Riley.

As the elevator door opened, Buffy and the others were shocked to be greeted by the moon and a sea of stars that filled the clear observation dome on three sides. For a moment she had to fight off a sense of vertigo and suddenly feeling very small and insignificant as she took in the vastness of space. Her rare disorientation was shaken off as she heard a familiar voice.

"Hi Buffy."

Buffy shook off her surprise and smiled as she saw Cassie, looking all prime and proper after cleaning up and back in uniform, coming towards them. She caught Xander out of the corner of her eye looking Cassie over and had to keep from laughing.

_One thing about these people, they're not shy about form fitting uniforms_, Buffy thought as she smiled and took the hand offered by the Lieutenant.

Cassie greeted the others as they recovered from their own shock of the view of space they were getting. Again Buffy had to keep from laughing as she watched Cassie and Xander awkwardly greet each other in the presence of her commanding officer. Cassie fought to keep the proper decorum, but the redness on her face was a giveaway of her true feelings, but she managed to keep her face turned away from her Captain.

Cassie quickly finished with her greetings and took a deep breath as she turned back to the man that was standing up from the conference table and moving towards them, "Everyone, this is Captain Paul Coleiro. He is the commanding officer of the REF Arcadia…"

The group got another chance to study the approaching man and they each formed their own opinion of the man. For Buffy the first word that came to mind as she evaluated the Captain was _killer_. She didn't know where the thought had come from, but she trusted her instincts. She recalled the fighting in Sunnydale and what had happened in the hospital and she knew that this man had killed before and would kill again as needed. She met the Captain's dark eyes and she realized that they were such a dark brown that they almost looked black. She was caught by surprise as the Captain gave her a small smile and she unexpectedly felt her heart skip a beat. The small smile seemed out of place on such a serious face, but it gave the Captain for lack of a better word _character_. The Captain offered his hand and Buffy didn't hesitate. She was surprised as she felt the firm pressure of the handshake as most men that shook her hand gave her a weak grip as they assumed that she was just some weak dumb blonde. She replied in kind keeping her Slayer strength in check.

"You must be Buffy. Lieutenant Evans told me all about you. Are you getting settled in?"

Buffy found herself a little tongue-tied as she looked in the Captain's eyes and found his smile getting a little bigger as he realized that she was staring at him. She found herself doing another look up and down of the Captain, but this time the evaluation was of a more womanly nature. She finally managed to get herself back in control as there was a long awkward pause.

"Yes…Yes the rooms you've given us are great. I never imagined being in space let alone seeing a swimming pool in space."

The Captain smiled again and Buffy felt her heart flutter and she suddenly felt awkward in front of the older man, "Well we do try our best to be comfortable…travelling between star systems does take some time."

Buffy let out a small laugh, which caught her by surprise. She drew strange looks from Giles and Robin. Xander just shook his head slowly while his eyes rolled to the top of his head. She didn't hear what he was muttering.

Buffy couldn't help herself as she found herself actually gushing like a teenage girl. Maybe it was being in this room and seeing the moon so close with stars everywhere, but she knew it was more than that. It was the tone and the look the Captain had given her. It was also in the hand shake he'd given her. In that greeting, she realized that the Captain accepted her, he didn't question or doubt who she was. She knew that she didn't have to prove herself to him. She was surprised to find herself aroused and scoping out the Captain as he moved on to the others and greeted each one of them. She saw each of the others actually smile and warm up to the Captain as he said something to each of them. She saw her own feelings mirrored when Dawn shook hands with Captain Coleiro — along with a small voice of alarm. She was also surprised to see how Willow reacted to the Captain, for a moment it looked like Willow was considering a change to her sexual orientation or at least was giving it some consideration.

"Please everyone be seated, we have much to discuss." the Captain said directing towards the seats around the conference table.

**oOoOo**

Giles studied Captain Coleiro as he briefed everyone on how he and his ship had arrived here along with the current situation. It was sobering for Giles and the others to hear that two-thirds of the crew had died during the event that brought them to this alternate dimension.

He appeared to listen intently as the Captain continued on — stopping to answer questions and explain terms they didn't understand — but he had a chance to get a good first impression of Captain Coleiro. What he could determine was that the Captain was a very complex person. He was probably just a shade over six feet tall, with an athletic, but not muscle bound frame that seemed to be accentuated in the uniform he wore. He appeared to be in his late thirties to early forties and of Italian or Spanish heritage or at least from the Mediterranean area if he'd come from this Earth.

_Coleiro…the name sounds Italian, Spanish maybe even Portuguese…_

Giles noted that the Captain looked to be friendly on the surface, but Giles had seen the eyes and they were of those that had seen battle before and killed. Even when he was cracking small talk with him and the others, Giles could see the Captain studying and evaluating them all, it wasn't a conscious thing — it reminded him of Buffy in some ways.

Speaking of Buffy, Giles couldn't believe how she, Dawn and Willow were almost gushing and not taking their eyes off the Captain — like they were school girls, in class, with crushes on their older teacher. It's not that Giles hadn't noticed the Captain's charm. He noted that the Captain did seem to exude some sort of rakish boyish charm.

_Spike could only wish to be like this. Not that the Captain's charms have any effect on me. This Captain Coleiro knows how to read people and talk to them. He knows when and how to make the right type of eye contact especially when talking to you. He actually smiled as I talked to him. He listened to me and answered my question..._

**oOoOo**

Paul had to keep from laughing. He'd turned on the charm to max for this meeting. He'd learned very early in life, as a matter of survival, of how to read people and be personable and charming, they'd been his only tools until he'd gotten older, bigger, stronger and learned how to fight. Being young and small trying to survive in that hellhole of Brasília after the death of his parents and destruction of New Macross had been a world-class level of education of survival. He'd been blessed with decent looks and an even better personality — when he decided to show it. Those god given skills had only been honed and improved by his time in the academy and years of experience. He'd lost count of how many times his charm and smile had gotten him out — _or into_ — a sticky situation, especially with the opposite sex.

He'd launched the charm offensive, to try and bury over any problems or hard feelings from the incident in Medical. He still wasn't happy with having a vampire on the ship, but he was willing to defer to Lieutenant Evan's judgement and he had seen that creature — Spike — fighting those other creatures down on the planet. He had to fight back some surprise and disbelief as Evans explained who everyone was and what they did and what their role was. If he hadn't been down on the planet and seen the "reality" of this dimension they found themselves currently stuck in, he would have had Evans locked up in Medical.

He was still wrapping his mind around what a "Slayer" was and that one of the other women — Willow — was a witch and that magic was real here. He didn't know what to expect of this Buffy, but he'd quickly sized her up as she got off the elevator. He saw the way she moved into the room and even though he could see that she was in shock at seeing space close up, for what was probably her first time, she was ready to react to any hostile threat at the snap of a finger. Evans had explained the strength and reflexes that the Slayer was gifted with. When Paul moved closer to Buffy he met her eyes and saw the eyes of a combat veteran, but he also saw the eyes of someone that wanted to have a normal life. He offered her his hand and shook hers firmly to let her know that she didn't have to prove anything to him. He saw a surprised look on her face and couldn't help but smile as he saw her studying him, he was used to that along with the appraising look she gave him.

A voice that was the ghost of his younger self made a lewd comment about Buffy as he looked her over, Paul pushed it down as he was beyond those games and the feelings that came into play. Memories of Sonia and their on-again off-again relationship through their time together at the academy and with the REF drifted through his thoughts as his mind drew some similarities between Sonia and Buffy.

_I'm too old for this…Love and sex is a young man's game. Feelings just get in the way… _

As they sat down at the conference table, Paul was still debating with himself about how much he should divulge to these people. He gave it some hard consideration, but he honestly couldn't think of any security protocols he would be breaking by being forthcoming and honest.

Paul had to suppress a laugh, _How many times and how many women asked me just to be a little forthcoming and honest?_

_It's not like these people are going to call up the Invid…Hell we don't even have a Protoculture matrix to make more energy cells. Once we run out of our supplies that's the end of Robotechnology. If we get home they can court martial me if they want to. It's been quite a while since Admiral Hunter last chewed me out._

With the decision made, Paul briefed the others on everything he knew about how they had gotten here and the current situation.

**oOoOo**

Xander was the first to speak out as the Captain finished his briefing, "So what are you going to do?"

"Our options are limited. Our engineers are still working on repairs to our space-fold system and we have repairs to perform to the ship. We know so little about alternate dimensions that right now we're just making guesses and flying blind. From what we know about the Robotech Masters, they studied and traveled to alternate dimensions using their knowledge of Protoculture. If only we had access to that information or something similar about opening or accessing alternate dimensions it would be of immense help."

Paul almost missed it, but he caught the looks exchanged between Buffy, Willow, Dawn, Xander and Giles.

_They know something that they aren't willing to share…I'll have to do some digging_, he thought pretending not to have noticed the shared looks.

"Ahem…Captain Coleiro, we do have some knowledge and experience dealing with alternate dimensions. Most of our experience is related to dealing with the world of demons and using magic to open and close portals to those hell dimensions. I'm sure that Willow here would be happy to assist as she has extensive knowledge about those realms." Giles offered as he was concerned as the others about discussing Dawn's true nature and purpose.

_This isn't the time to mention about Dawn's status. We need to talk about this more and in private_, Giles thought as he picked up on that Buffy and the others were thinking the exact same thoughts.

Paul looked the older man over for a moment, "I don't know how magic will work in our situation or—"

"I can assure you Captain, Willow is not only a powerful witch, but she has a good education and knowledge of the sciences."

Paul was about to reply, but Willow spoke up quickly in an excited voice at the thought of getting a chance to work with this technology, "I would be glad to help out. Cassie…uh…I mean Lieutenant Evans gave me a basic understanding of Robotechnology and Protoculture and it sounds mind-blowing…I mean the ability for machines to change their shape and control them."

Paul was caught by surprise by the young woman's enthusiasm and desire to help. He wasn't about to turn down any free offers, "Okay…I'll arrange with our Chief Engineer to sit down with you and he can better answer your questions on the technical side. Maybe you can see something that we've missed or maybe some of this…magic may be the answer."

Paul had to catch himself not to laugh when he said the word — _magic_ — as a part of him still thought it was all silly, but these people lived it and it was real for them. He saw no need to argue, in some ways Protoculture was like magic in how it was created and worked.

"So what are you going to do if you can't get back to your dimension?" Buffy asked, surprised by the tone in her voice as she found that she was honestly concerned about what happens to these people.

Paul sighed as he heard the question which surprised the people sitting at the table, "If we can't find a way home, our plan is to make our ship as combat-capable as we can and execute a space-fold back to the Local Group…the area of the galaxy where we are based in our dimension. We're going to see if any of the races from our home dimension exist in this dimension and determine if there is a threat or not to us and by extension this Earth."

"If there is a…threat?" Xander asked as he glanced worriedly towards Cassie.

"We'll gather as much intel as we can and return to Earth and help prepare and mount a defense."

"What happens if you find those…aliens and find them friendly?" Dawn asked catching Buffy and the others by surprise at her brashness to speak up.

Paul smiled at the teenager and saw her blush at the look and attention he'd given her, "Well we haven't made any definite plans, but the majority of the crew was born on Tirol. We are human and our oath is to protect and defend humanity and Earth, but if there is no threat then we may decide to stay in that corner of the galaxy."

Xander felt his body go cold and a lump form in his throat at the thought of Cassie leaving and never seeing her again, "If there's no threat, why can't you stay here…on Earth?"

Paul had seen the look that the young man had directed towards Lieutenant Evans and he could easily sympathize with him, "Before we get ahead of ourselves here, there's still a lot of work that has to be done before we can look at any of these options. We have to make sure our space-fold system is working properly, that we've completed all the repairs we can do without repair facilities and have trained replacement pilots to at least give the Arcadia some semblance of fighter cover beyond Lieutenant Evans and myself. We could be here for a couple of weeks at least—"

"So what happens to us in the meantime?" Robin asked cutting off the Captain.

Paul wasn't used to being interrupted and he gave the man a look over and decided to cut him some slack — this time — as none of them were military, "You can stay with us as our guests for as long as you want."

Paul was surprised to see some uncomfortable looks from some of the people at the table.

"What happens if we want to go home right now?"

The Captain sighed again as he'd anticipated this question, "Unfortunately as a result of how we conducted our rescue and recovery mission, for Lieutenant Evans and yourselves, the military forces on your planet are alerted to our presence. At this time, if we tried to take another dropship down to the surface, we would probably encounter stiff resistance."

"So we can't go home?" Giles asked.

"No, I didn't say that. We need to give the situation some time to cool off down there and then we can look at ferrying you down in small groups on our fighters to isolated areas…keep it small and quiet and hopefully not get noticed."

"Why can't you just tell everyone down there that you're friendly? " Dawn asked somewhat naively.

Before Paul could answer, Giles spoke up to answer the question, "Dawn, these people represent a level of technology and knowledge way beyond our scope of understanding, unfortunately humanity has a history of being afraid of what it cannot understand and control. Plus there are groups…whole countries in fact that would stop at nothing to get a hold of this ship and everything on it and if they can't control it then they'll try to destroy it to keep it from others."

Paul nodded in agreement with Giles's answer as it perfectly outlined his own thoughts on the situation with the local population, "It's not like we're going to run out of food, water or air if you stay aboard. Our ship is fitted out with lots of facilities and amenities as we're usually deployed for long periods of time away from our home base."

"What about the Hellmouth?" Buffy asked with concern as talking about home jolted her out of her short-lived complacency.

"You tell me? How much of a threat is this thing?" Paul asked using, unconsciously, a somewhat hard tone as he recalled his encounter down there.

Buffy was a little surprised — as were the others — in the Captain's quick change in demeanor at the mention of the Hellmouth.

_Something happened down there and it pissed him off_, Buffy noted as she studied and picked up the changes in the Captain's body language and his voice.

"Did something happen to you back at the Hellmouth?" Giles asked as he'd observed the same change in the Captain's behavior.

Paul didn't want to talk about Sonia and what he'd encountered, but he knew that he'd failed in covering up his feelings, "What can you tell me about something called 'The First'?"

There were gasps from the people around the table at hearing that the Captain had encountered The First Evil.

"I'm sorry to say we have little information about this creature other than it is very old and is non-corporeal. It is an entity of pure evil and even though it can't physically harm you, it goes for a more sinister and psychological form of attack…"

"It tries to push all your buttons and gets you to do things!" Dawn blurted out in excitement.

"Dawn!" Buffy said to stop her sister from interrupting Giles's narration and explanation.

"It's true! It messed with Anya and almost got her and us killed!"

"Ah…um…yes, that's basically what The First does. It tries to manipulate others to do its own dirty work." Giles responded after recovering from the younger Summers's interruption, but this was something that he was used to. He was more worried about the Captain's interaction with The First and the effect on him.

"If you don't mind me asking, Captain. What was the nature and type of interaction you had with The First?"

"It's personal and we'll leave it at that..." Paul said in a voice that spoke of finality as he gave Giles a hard look. The Captain continued on, "…I managed to collapse the building on to itself and buried whatever that thing is under the ruble."

"Burying it will only—" Buffy started to say.

"Yes I know we're only delaying it." Paul said cutting Buffy off.

He ignored the look that the Slayer was giving him as he continued on, "What can we do about sealing it? Would a 100 kiloton Reflex warhead set for ground penetration have any effect?"

Paul saw the looks of puzzlement on the others, except for Lieutenant Evans. Finally Giles spoke up, "By 100 kiloton…are you referring to a nuclear weapon?"

"Think nuclear, but enhanced with Protoculture, we get a bigger bang out of a smaller warhead size. We can fit one into one of our ground attack missiles and have it do a deep penetration with a delayed action fuse…no more Hellmouth."

Paul was met by incredulous looks from the people around the table.

**oOoOo**

There was much discussion among the group as they returned to their quarters.

"Can you believe that guy? He actually wants to drop a nuke on the Hellmouth! That's crazy! Right?" Xander asked looking between Giles and Buffy.

Buffy looked at Giles, "Is Xander right? Will a nuclear weapon have any effect on the Hellmouth?"

Giles didn't respond and she could see that he was deep in thought.

"Giles?"

"Uh…sorry Buffy, I was just thinking over what the Captain was suggesting. What was it you were asking?"

"I said, will a nuke take out the Hellmouth?"

"I don't know. The energies and magics that reside in and around the Hellmouth create such uncertainty…it's something that would have to be studied more in depth. I think we have to tread carefully here as the Captain appears to be in a foul mood in regards to the Hellmouth and The First. " Giles replied but he was still thinking deeply.

"Yeah, he seemed to be really pissed off. I wonder what happened." Xander noted.

There was a moment of silence, but it was quickly broken by Dawn, "Wasn't the Captain hot looking?"

Buffy almost choked in surprise at her sister's comment. There were looks of surprise among the others.

"We're talking about dropping a nuclear weapon on the Hellmouth and Sunnydale and all you can think about is how hot the Captain is?" Buffy said shaking her head in frustration.

"Yeah, yeah I know all about the nuke…blah blah blah…world ending—" Dawn started to say.

"This is serious!" Buffy said in exasperation.

"I know it's serious…it's always serious! That doesn't mean I stop living or noticing that the Captain is a hottie… Didn't you see how intense his eyes were?" Dawn said with an infatuated look on her face.

"Willow, help me out here?" Buffy pleaded looking at her friend for help with her sister.

Willow got a funny look on her face, "Sorry Buff, but Dawnie has a point…he was kind of hot looking in a mature, dangerous sort of way."

"Will!" Buffy and Xander exclaimed at the same time.

Willow looked at her friends with a sheepish look on her face, "I may be a lesbian, but that doesn't mean I can't notice him."

"I'd do him." Robin said in a matter of fact tone catching everyone by surprise.

There was a moment of utter disbelief as everyone looked at Robin.

"W…what?" Buffy asked not quite sure or believing what she'd heard the former principal and her boss say.

Robin shrugged, "I'm just saying that as a good looking man myself, who's comfortable in his sexuality, that if I was a woman or played that way I would find him attractive…I'm just saying that the guy looks like a player."

Buffy shook her head wondering how they had switched topics from nuking the Hellmouth to talking about the Captain. She couldn't deny how she'd felt when she met him, but this wasn't the time for some school girl crush.

_Dawn is right though, he's got those dark intense eyes. You could just lose yourself in there…_

Buffy saw Xander with a strange contemplative look on his face, "Xander, not you too?"

Xander shrugged with an embarrassed sheepish look on his face, "Buff, he is the Captain of a spaceship and a fighter pilot…he does give off a whole Captain Kirk vibe…and you gotta admit, it was kinda cool when he talked about nuking the Hellmouth."

Buffy couldn't help herself as she laughed, while Giles sighed and muttered to himself while shaking his head slowly.


	19. Don't hurt or break him…

**CHAPTER NINETEEN:**

**Don't hurt or break him…**

Anya was restless, antsy and getting more irritated as each day passed by with her still confined to the hospital. She'd been stuck in the hospital for the last four days as the medical staff wanted to monitor her condition as she'd suffered a severe concussion. She hadn't minded at first, but now she just wanted to get out and look around. What irritated her even more was that Andrew had been given a clean bill of health and released. She figured that she was being punished for one of the many things she'd done during her long life.

It wasn't like they had her locked up in a room isolated from people. Buffy, Giles, Willow, Dawn, Xander and even Cassie had stopped by to check up on her and visit. Her friends, especially Dawn, gave her the latest news and description of the ship they were on. Anya was anxious to get a tour and check things out, especially the Captain according to Dawn's description. The main problem was that sitting in the hospital gave her time to think and she was finding herself dwelling on her encounter with The First, when it had appeared as Olaf, and the things it had said to her and what she'd almost done to the others and herself.

The more she thought about her situation, the more of a funk she fell into, the more irritable and grumpy she became which became a vicious circle. Her grumpiness showed through when Xander stopped by to visit her. It hadn't helped that Cassie had tagged along. Her presence was a reminder of what The First had said of Xander no longer being hers and that she would end up alone. Cassie had stayed behind after Xander had left and tried to explain and even apologize for her actions back in Sunnydale. Anya had been dismissive and had asked Cassie to leave her alone.

That had only made things even worse for Anya as she now dwelled on Cassie's attempt at friendliness and a small voice in the back of Anya's head was telling her that Xander and her had been over ever since he'd walked out on their wedding day. The voice was telling her it was time for her to move on and she if she still had any feelings for him, she should be happy that he found someone.

That was crux of her dilemma, she'd spent literally centuries punishing men for the wrongs they'd committed against women and then suddenly finding herself human had been a difficult transition. Then there was Xander. She'd cared and loved him and then he'd hurt her. Even though he said he did it to spare them both from a life of misery, it didn't make the pain any less. That she'd given her humanity up again to D'Hoffryn and that it had cost Halfrek's life to be released was on her conscience. These thoughts all weighed on her while she was stuck in the hospital, wondering when she would be released and what would happen to her.

She rolled over on her side and tried to fall asleep, but she knew that it would be futile as she wasn't tired, also a part of her dreaded going to sleep and dreaming. She was having a reoccurring nightmare of her dying in the high school and being left behind and forgotten by everyone.

She let out a deep sigh as she lifted her head and punched her pillow in a vain attempt to somehow make it more comfortable. She was startled by a man's voice that spoke from behind her.

"Is everything alright ma'am?"

**oOoOo**

Sergeant Bronowski had planned to make this visit to Medical sooner, but helping out with the repairs on the Arcadia had taken up his time and when he'd finally finished his work detail, it was either too late or he was exhausted. He felt a whisper of guilt that he hadn't gone down to check on the woman he'd saved down on the planet and it bothered him more and more over the last couple of days.

He suddenly found himself with some free time as Captain Coleiro had ordered most of the crew to stand down for a day and grab some rest and relaxation. There was now no excuse for him to put off this visit and he finally made his way down to Medical.

The first thing, he did when he entered was check with the medtechs to make sure that the particular patient he was here to see was doing okay and able to have visitors. They had given him a quick update on the patient and the Sergeant was glad to hear that she was making a full recovery. They did mention that she was in a bad mood and for a moment Bronowski thought that maybe he should put off his visit, but then he recalled those times that he had extended stays in the hospital and it could be quite depressing except for those times when people visited you.

Steeled with new resolve, he made his way to the bed that the woman was in. As he approached he saw her curled up on her side with his back to him and for a disappointing moment he thought she was asleep. Just before he turned around and left, the woman suddenly sat up a bit and punched her pillow really hard several times. Bronowski couldn't help but smile as he noted that the woman was taking her anger out on the pillow. For some strange reason he found himself even more nervous.

_No excuses now Sergeant_, he thought and then spoke.

**oOoOo**

Anya turned, looking like a startled deer in the headlights. She saw the large imposing man standing to the side of her bed. She didn't recognize him as one of the hospital staff. Her first thoughts were to compare the stranger to Olaf, but this man was not as big in height and width, but he actually looked more muscular than Olaf. She saw his face and at first he looked to be not much older than Xander, but she noticed that his eyes made him seem older than his face. For a moment the man's eyes reminded her of Buffy, but not as weary or tired from the endless fighting.

Bronowski saw the blonde woman studying him and he found himself suddenly self-conscious of his appearance which wasn't normal for him.

"I'm sorry to have disturbed you. I was just checking to see if you were okay." the Sergeant said trying to regain control.

Anya studied the man and she thought she could detect some nervousness on his part. She'd always had some problems reading body language and she found she didn't want to put her foot in her mouth like she usually did.

"No it's okay, " she said with a sigh as she sat up in the bed adjusting her pillows, "I'm just getting a little tired of laying around her. It's starting to drive me crazy."

She was surprised when the man laughed, "Yeah, I know what you mean. I hate being stuck in Medical too."

For a moment, Anya could have sworn that she'd met this man before, but she couldn't place it.

Bronowski saw the puzzled look on the woman's face and he suddenly realized she didn't know who he was, "Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I should introduce myself," he said with a smirk and small laugh, "I'm Sergeant Bronowski…I was down on the planet when we picked up Lieutenant Evans and your group. I was just checking to see how you were recovering. I would've been by sooner, but we've been busy working on repairs."

Anya's memory of the airport was hazy and she'd been unconscious when brought aboard. She only had what Xander, Dawn, Willow and Buffy had told her to fill in the blanks. She thought hard and her body started to ache as she recalled pushing Andrew out of the bus and then struggling to carry him. It was still hazy, but she had flashes of a Turok-Han attacking her. She was pinned to the ground and then suddenly there was a loud voice. She suddenly realized who this man was.

"It was you that saved my life and killed that vampire?"

She was surprised when the man suddenly looked uncomfortable.

"I…I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I couldn't let that thing hurt you. Actually you're the brave one for carrying that person and pushing them aside as you were attacked. It took guts…real guts to stand up to a creature like that with no weapons."

Anya couldn't believe she was actually getting praise for performing a brave act. She found herself deciding to try something very risky. She decided to try a joke, "Yeah that was pretty stupid of me. I should have thrown Andrew at the Turok-Han instead."

_He actually laughed at my joke…Xander never laughed at my attempts at humor_, Anya thought in a slight state of shock at the man's response.

Bronowski had been feeling uncharacteristically awkward and self-conscious around this woman. Her joke caught him by surprise and he couldn't help himself but laugh as he saw the serious look on her face as she said it. As he calmed down, he suddenly realized that he didn't even know this woman's name.

"I…I didn't get your name?" he asked suddenly feeling very awkward and hoping he wouldn't put his foot in his mouth.

Anya could easily see that Sergeant Bronowski was nervous. She remembered how Xander got nervous when they first went out.

_It must be something specific to the male species and mating rituals_, she thought.

"I'm Anya."

There was a moment of awkward silence as the two of them looked at each other. Bronowski was still digesting and savoring Anya's name when she asked him a question.

"If you don't mind me asking, Sergeant is a strange first name."

Bronowski stared blankly and blinked for a moment. Anya thought something was wrong with the man as he looked at her and then she was surprised when he started laughing again.

"What's wrong?" she asked puzzled at what she could have said that was so funny.

"Nothing…Nothing. It's just been for so long that I've been called or referred to myself as Sergeant Bronowski, that sometimes I forget that I have a first name." he said with a smile.

Anya couldn't help herself as she smiled back, "So what's your name or is it some sort of military secret?" she asked suddenly feeling better from this visit.

"No, it's no big secret. My first name is Lionel."

There was another long moment of awkward silence as Anya and Lionel would look at each other and then smile.

"I guess I should get going. Maybe I can stop by again?" Lionel asked awkwardly.

Anya actually felt sad that the Sergeant was leaving. She found that she enjoyed being with him. He was pleasant to look at and he laughed at her jokes.

Lionel could see the change in Anya's demeanor and he suddenly didn't want to leave either. A plan quickly formed in his mind.

_Those who dare win…_

Anya was a little perplexed as she saw an almost evil grin on Lionel's face as he looked at her, "What?"

"How would you like if I broke you out of here? I could take you around the ship, you know show you around."

Anya mirrored his grin as she nodded her head excitedly.

**oOoOo**

Faith was bored. She'd spent the last couple of days catching up on her sleep and taking advantage of the spacious room, she had all to herself. She even had her own bathroom with shower which just put her in heaven as she couldn't ever remember living this well. Between the sleeping and hot showers, she was enjoying the food that was freely available. She kept wondering when the bill would be coming for all this stuff, as in her experience, "_nothin' in life is free_".

She'd checked out the spare clothes that the soldiers had brought for them to have. She had to laugh as she couldn't believe that Cassie had been telling the truth about how tight and form fitting the outfits could be. She decided to shelve the stripper-wear for now and stay with her own clothes, as she noted, with some amusement, how some of the Potentials and Dawn — to Buffy's horror — had quickly taken to the change of wardrobe.

Faith wasn't going to judge as she'd gotten a few looks of her own when she had worn just a towel down to the pool to do some late night skinny-dipping. Now after four days of lounging and living high off the hog, she could feel her pants starting to feel a little more snug than usual.

_Time for a little workout_, she thought as she headed out her door into the corridor.

**oOoOo**

Faith hoped she hadn't screwed up on the directions that the soldier had been most helpful in giving. She'd gone to the gym where the pool was and she found she wasn't really into using the workout equipment. She approached one of the soldiers that was one of their ever present watchers, and asked if there was anywhere else on this "tub" where someone could do a workout. Faith could only smirk as the soldier looked her up and down.

_Men…whether they're from here or another dimension, they're all the same_, she thought, but the soldier had surprised her by telling her that there was a larger gymnasium on deck two that had more equipment. She still wasn't sold on the whole working out with exercise equipment thing as she preferred her workouts to be a lot more physical.

She wandered the deck hoping she wasn't lost, when she got a break. A pair of female crewmen dressed in what looked like workout attire walked past her heading the opposite direction down the corridor. Faith decided to give it a shot and turned and followed the women. As she followed them, she started encountering more people. She drew a few looks from the crew, but she shrugged them off. It wasn't long before the two women went through a door. Faith didn't hesitate and followed in behind them. She stopped just inside the door taking in the room and people.

"Now this is what I'm talking about." she muttered with a smile.

**oOoOo**

Anya was enjoying her walk with the Sergeant. He'd kept his word and gotten her "sprung" from the hospital. She felt herself somewhat overwhelmed as Lionel took her on a tour of the ship. She had been in stunned awe as he had taken her to something called the "observation deck" and she had seen the moon just seeming to hang there just outside the windows with the Earth just peaking around the side of it. They'd stopped for coffee and a snack and then were walking again.

She was dreading having to go back to the hospital, but Lionel said that he would talk to the medtechs when they got back to see about getting her released sooner. There were moments on their walks that were filled with awkward silence, she'd asked questions about him, where he'd come from and about his world. She was interested in learning more about Lionel, but she was trying to keep him from asking too many questions about her. It was when they first started talking that she realized that she was talking with someone that had no knowledge or exposure to Sunnydale and the whole world of demons and vampires. She didn't know how to tell him that she used to be a vengeance demon and had been alive for over a thousand years. That was one of the major reasons, she had loved Xander so much. He knew all about her and accepted her past and who she'd been — to a point.

She danced around some of the details of her life. The parts that she did tell him — being a small business owner and capitalist and her mortal fear of rabbits — she found that he was listening and paying attention to her. She was confused by this.

Lionel saw a strange look on Anya's face, "What's wrong?"

"You…is there something wrong with you?"

Lionel looked at her funnily, "What're you talking about?"

Anya sighed, "It's just that you're listening to me and paying attention to me and you're not making comments telling me that I'm saying the wrong thing or I shouldn't speak my mind. By now someone would tell me to stop speaking my mind."

Lionel was now confused, "What's wrong with speaking your mind? I'm a Sergeant, it's a job requirement that I speak my mind. I kinda like that you speak your mind. There's less confusion." he said with a smirk.

Anya decided she liked the way Lionel smiled at her, "Okay." she said stepping close to him and wrapping her arms around his neck and planting a kiss on his mouth.

Lionel pulled away quickly, not that he didn't like it but because he'd been caught off-guard, "W…what's that for?!"

Anya stood there with a disappointed look on her face, "Don't you want to kiss me? Did I do something wrong?"

Lionel was now really confused, but if the truth been told, he'd been thinking about kissing her since she'd first smiled at him, "No…no, I want to kiss you! It's just that you caught me by surprise! Why did you kiss me?"

"You said you like that I speak my mind because there's less confusion. I wanted to kiss you. Don't you want less confusion?"

"Yes ma'am! I would very much like less confusion!" Lionel said with a smile as he stepped in and took Anya in his arms and they kissed again.

**oOoOo**

Anya and Lionel were walking close together holding hands as they made their way down the corridor. They both had smiles on their faces, but Anya was being pulled by the nagging voice about how she should tell Lionel about the other parts of her life. She found that she enjoyed just being with him and that his kissing while a somewhat different technique than Xander's was quite enjoyable.

She was looking forward to being with Lionel again. During her time with Xander they had done some experimentation with different types of sexual activity. She was thinking of asking Lionel, the next time they were together, about his thoughts on some of the activities that she'd enjoyed the most. Any further thoughts of sex were interrupted as she heard Lionel exclaim.

"What the hell?!"

"What's wrong?"

"There's something going on in the gym."

Anya saw a huge crowd down the corridor. They were gathered outside a door and they looked like they were trying to get in through the door. As they got closer, she thought she heard yelling and cheering coming from room.

Lionel got to the door and saw one of his troopers, in the crowd gathered, straining his neck looking through the door as he waited for his chance to get in.

"Sanders! What the hell is going on?" Lionel asked going into Sergeant mode as he also heard the yelling and cheering coming from the gym.

The trooper jumped to attention, "Sergeant! Thank god you're here!"

"What's wrong?!"

"We need you in there! She's kicking everyone's ass! I've never seen anything like it! You need to get in there!"

Before Lionel could ask any further questions, the rest of the crowd had noticed the Sergeant and they were making space for the Trooper to go out and grab the Sergeant and take him in the gym. Lionel looked at Anya and she was confused as well. He thought that maybe there had been an accident or an attack, but there were no alarms going off and the crew gathered at the door were cheering for him. Lionel held Anya's hand tight to not lose her as he was literally dragged by his trooper into the gym.

Lionel couldn't believe how crowded the gym was and how loud it was. Anya was still holding tight as they pushed their way through the crowd. He was still trying to figure out what the hell was going on, when they finally got through the crowd and the gym opened up in front of them. He was shocked to see one of the women — a brunette — they'd pulled off the planet going head to head with one of troopers in hand to hand combat in the middle of the mats used for combat training with the crew gathered around cheering wildly.

Lionel knew the trooper fighting was one of his tougher and rougher soldiers and he was about to shout out for him to stand down, when the brunette got a grip on the larger man and tossed him across the training area, hitting the mat with a heavy thud. Lionel blinked as the smaller brunette moved like a flash of light and was on top of the trooper who was struggling to get up. Surprisingly even though the brunette was outsized and outweighed by the trooper, she quickly pinned him to the mat. A crewman, who appeared to be acting as referee, jumped in and quickly counted to five slapping his hand on the mat to signal that the fight was over. The crowd went nuts with a mix of wild cheering and booing as the brunette stood up with a big smirk on her face and looking like she'd hardly broken a sweat. The trooper slowly moved and two crewmen moved in quickly to assist their fallen comrade off the mat.

"Faith…"

Lionel turned toward Anya who had muttered the name. He saw her shaking her head slowly and rolling her eyes upward. He was going to ask her who "Faith" was, but his attention was drawn back to the combat training area as the brunette spoke to the crowd.

"Alright boys and girls…who's next?"

**oOoOo**

Faith was in her element. Upon entering this gym, she'd seen a few people working out on exercise equipment, but what really caught her attention was the martial arts training area, she quickly recognized, off to one side in the middle of the gym. A smile came to her face and she could feel her blood rush and heart start beating faster as she watched a group of the ship's crew going through some training.

She didn't hesitate as she made her way across the gym to the group training. She stood off to the side watching as the instructor led her class through some moves that she recognized as tae kwon do. She watched the group go through its moves for a few minutes until the instructor noticed her. The instructor had been mildly amused when the stranger asked to join her class and if she could train and spar with them. In typical Faith fashion, it didn't take long for things to escalate and get out of hand.

It had started when one of the trainees had decided that he would make a play for Faith. She easily recognized the type as she been dealing with his type all her life and at first she just ignored him, but his attempts at flirting kept on going until it reached annoying. It finally got to the point, where he asked her, "What would it take for you to go out with me?" to which Faith immediately responded, "You'll have to pin me." She shook her head and smirked as the man made some lewd comment about pinning her now and then again after dinner.

The fight was over in seconds, to the shock of everyone in the gym. The man needed help getting up and moving off the mat. Faith thought that the matter was over, but apparently the guy had friends and they were asking for chance to get even. After putting a couple more down, Faith found herself getting a little bored and a gleam came to eye as she got an idea.

"How about we make this a little more interesting. How about we put some money on these matches and I'll take on all comers." she said to the growing crowd in the gym that were fascinated by how this brunette was taking down highly trained soldiers. It didn't take long for word to spread around the ship and the crowd grew bigger and more challengers appeared for a chance to try and take the young woman down.

**oOoOo**

Faith looked at the small pile of items on the edge of mat that represented her accumulating winnings from each match. She eyed what looked like credit cards, but as had been explained to her were electronic currency cards loaded with credits. She'd hoped to make some good old US dollars, but she'd been informed that the cards were good for purchasing items from the ship's stores and PX. At first she was getting good odds and she was getting a good return, by the ninth opponent she could see the side bets going on and a lot more of the crew were betting for her rather than against her.

_Looks like this well will run dry soon…maybe I've won enough to buy me one of those cool rides or maybe someone will put up their pink slip…_

She looked around for the next challenger and heard the crowd let out a roar. She saw a pretty imposing man walk forward through the crowd, she arched an eyebrow in surprise at seeing Anya there and that she was holding hands with the man. She took another glance up and down of the man to take a better evaluation and nodded with a smile in appreciation of Anya's good taste. Another soldier ran forward excitedly.

"I've got your next opponent! Sergeant Bronowski is the best on the ship and also fleet champion!"

Lionel was surprised and shocked at what was rapidly unfolding. All he wanted to do was walk with Anya and now he was standing in the gym on the edge of the training mat looking at an attractive brunette who apparently was kicking everyone's ass in hand to hand combat. He met the eyes of the brunette and he found himself surprised with the look he got back. He was used to staring down opponents, but he found himself blinking and he felt a small creeping feeling of uncertainty start. He actually considered turning down the match as he was more interested in spending time in Anya, but the crowd was now chanting his name and he saw the brunette smirk as the crowd got louder with their chanting.

Lionel let out a sigh and turned to Anya, "I'm sorry, I have to do this. Everyone is counting on me."

Anya saw the look on Lionel's face and saw the crowd going wild as he took off his boots and started to prepare for the match. She stepped towards Faith and looked her straight in the eyes with a determined look on her face.

"Don't hurt or break him. I like him." Anya said with sincere seriousness and concern in her voice.

Faith tried not to laugh as she saw that Anya was genuine in her concern and feelings for the man that was her next opponent. She nodded in understanding with a smirk.

Anya turned to leave the mat and join the crowd. She stopped by Lionel, who had heard what she'd said to the brunette and was perplexed and confused by her choice of words, though he was glad to hear that she liked him.

Anya looked at Lionel shaking her head slowly, "I'll be waiting over there for you when you lose, so I can help with the first-aid and consoling you."

Lionel wasn't sure if he'd heard Anya right, but as the words sank in he was a little put-off that she wasn't supporting him, but then he looked at the substantial pile of winnings that the brunette had accumulated and recalled how she'd tossed the trooper with what looked like apparent ease. He felt the creeping uncertainty and doubt grow as the referee signaled for them to move to the middle of the mat.


	20. Don't poke the bear…

**CHAPTER TWENTY:**

**Don't poke the bear…**

Paul made his way down the corridor towards the living quarters where their guests were staying to check in on them. Lieutenants Evans and Hanson were with him as they were answering his questions on the ship's status.

"Lieutenant Evans, what's the status on the training of our replacement pilots?"

"Sir, with the compressed training plan, we're already in the simulators performing basic flight operations and maneuvers. We should be able to start simulator combat training in about two weeks."

Paul's face turned grim as he wanted to speed up the training program, but he already knew that they were cutting corners. He didn't want to put his people's lives at any more unnecessary risk if it could be helped.

"How long before we can put our students into actual planes?"

Cassie took a moment to consider the question. She was happy, excited and scared that Captain Coleiro had placed her in charge of the pilot training program. She knew that the main reason she was selected was that she was the only other fighter pilot on the ship, but the Captain had said that she had his full confidence and since she was not too long out of the academy and flight school, she would still be familiar with all the training protocols. It had been a major undertaking and she had jumped at the opportunity, the drawback was that she hadn't had a lot of spare time to spend with Xander and she could see the look of disappointment on his face during those brief times that they shared a meal together or took brief walks and talked.

"I've given it some thought, sir. Standard training procedures are to complete simulator training first and then move on to actual flight operations, but I think I can split the training day into combat simulations in the morning and then doing actual flying in the afternoons. It's putting a lot of pressure on the students…"

Paul nodded, "Excellent idea Evans, get them used to real flying sooner. Just keep an eye on them and make sure that they're keeping up. I know I'm asking a lot of you and them, but I also want to make sure that everyone stays safe. If you feel things are going too fast or there's too much pressure, you slow down and take the time you need. It's your call Lieutenant and it's on you, understood?"

Cassie gulped as she could feel the pressure and responsibility weigh on her. She nodded her understanding, "Yes, sir!" she said trying to sound confident.

"Lieutenant Hanson."

"Sir?"

"Status of ship repairs?"

"On schedule, sir. Comms have been restored and sensors are coming back on line slowly. Weapon and defensive systems are available. All hull breaches have been sealed and contained. Engineering is still wanting to do more testing on the space-fold system. We've also finished recovering all the Shadow drone fighters. Chief Larson reports that she is starting repairs on the recovered craft. She also reports that she is a little short-handed, so she may take longer on her estimated repair schedule."

Paul took a moment to think it over, "Let Chief Larson know that Lieutenant Evans and myself will be down later to assist her with the repairs on the drones. Other than that everything sounds like it's all in hand. Spread the word to all sections Lieutenant and let them know they've done a good job and have earned this day off.

Hanson smiled and nodded at the Captain's compliment, "Yes, sir!"

Paul was going to ask Hanson if Engineering had any updates or progress on a solution to getting back to their dimension, but those thoughts were interrupted as a loud commotion worked its way down the corridor towards them. The officers had to jump to the side as a large group of women came running and talking wildly amongst themselves.

The stampede moved past the officers, almost not seeing them. Paul was about to yell out for the group to stop and come to attention, but then recognized that the young women — all teenagers — were from the group from the planet. A voice shouted out as the group rushed by.

"Hi Cassie! Hi Captain!"

Paul could feel his blood pressure start to build as he looked at Lieutenant Evans. She looked at him somewhat sheepishly as she sort of waved back towards the teenager. He recognized the young woman that had shouted out to them as the younger sister of Buffy Summers.

"What the he—"

"I'll find out what's going, sir!" Hanson said quickly seeing that his Captain was getting angry. The young Lieutenant wanted to resolve the situation quickly as he could see that ever since the rescue and recovery mission that Captain Coleiro had been on a slow burn. He didn't know what had happened, but he could tell that something was wrong even as the Captain tried to cover it up. Hanson hadn't known the Captain, other than by reputation, before they'd arrived here. He felt that now in his capacity as First Officer, that it was important to try and find out what was bothering the Captain and try to help him. He just didn't know what to do. He was considering going to talk to Chief Larson, as she'd known the Captain the longest, but he wasn't sure how that would go over if the Captain found out.

Paul took a deep breath as Lieutenant Hanson went to check with the security personnel stationed at the entrance to the living quarters that his "guests" were staying. It wasn't long before Hanson returned and Paul could see an anxious nervous look on the young Lieutenant's face.

"What is it, Lieutenant?" Paul said in a clear crisp commanding tone.

"Uh, sir. It seems that…well I—"

Paul wanted to yell as he felt his anger grow, but he realized that he would be taking his bad mood out on the Lieutenant that he didn't deserve. He took a deep breath and paused for a moment to get control, he saw Hanson gulp as he could see his Captain trying to reign in his anger.

"Spit it out, Lieutenant." Paul said in a very calm sounding voice which actually made him sound scarier as the calm sound didn't reflect the look in his eyes or face.

Hanson gulped again, "Sir, there appears to be some sort of…competition taking place in the gymnasium on deck two..."

Paul closed his eyes and counted to ten.

Hanson continued on, "…It appears that it has attracted a large crowd."

He kept on counting to twenty before he opened his eyes.

"Well Lieutenant…Lieutenants," he said looking at both Hanson and Cassie, "I think that we should take a little stroll up to deck two and look in on this little competition. Don't you think?"

**oOoOo**

Lionel was in the fight of his life, even if it was only a "friendly" competition. He'd somehow managed to avoid almost getting pinned twice now. His shoulder ached from a toss that the brunette — Faith — had caught him with when he'd tried to get in close. He'd known that she must have had some skills from the number of opponents she'd taken out so far, but he had no idea as to how strong she was and how fast her reflexes were.

He'd grown up hearing stories about Max Sterling and how fast he could move and the things he could do with a Veritech. Lionel hadn't believed that any of that was possible, but he had a chance to train with Captain Coleiro once years ago and he gotten a glimpse of such speed. Now he was on the receiving end of speed and strength. He'd made his first mistake by getting up close to Faith as he planned to use his strength to overpower and end the match quickly. His eyes went wide as she easily broke his grasp and threw him. He was now trying to stay out of her reach and use his longer reach as an advantage, but her speed and reflexes negated any advantage his longer reach may have given him. Occasionally he caught a glimpse of Anya watching from the sidelines and saw her shaking her head slowly and giving him a grim look.

_So much for moral support_, Lionel thought as he tried to keep his focus on his opponent as a little voice in his head was telling him that he was going to lose.

**oOoOo**

Paul, with Lieutenants Evans and Hanson in tow, approached the gymnasium on deck two. Before he even rounded the corner to see the gym entrance, he could hear the cheering and yelling echo down the corridor.

_Sounds like quite the "event" going on…_

He was trying to keep an open mind as he got closer to the gym. He knew that the crew had been and still were under a lot of stress and they needed to blow off steam. They had all lost friends and shipmates and they needed to decompress—to a point.

He was in command of the Arcadia and he had a duty to make sure that things were not getting out of hand as he was very well aware from personal experience how something little could get easily and quickly out of hand.

As he round the corridor corner and saw the crowd standing outside the gym, he immediately knew that this was no "little" event. Then he saw the distinct signs — again from personal experience — of gambling taking place.

A little voice in his head was telling him to back off and let the crew have their fun, but he knew that if he let discipline slide for this then what would slide next. He realized that he and his crew were cut-off from all support and possibly stranded here for the rest of their lives. The last thing he needed was the crew being divided and start forming groups or factions. The Arcadia may be only one ship, but she carried a tremendous amount of firepower and all it would take would be for some ambitious individual or group to look at all the weapons aboard and the planet below that was technologically inferior. That path led to a very dark place.

Paul suppressed a shudder as memories of T.R. Edwards and of the REF Civil War came back. That had been a bad time for the REF. Edwards had known how to push people's buttons and had attempted to get Paul to switch his allegiances to him and Ghost Squadron as he tried to increase his power base in his quest to takeover the REF and establish himself as a new Robotech Master to rule the galaxy. Edwards had made an almost convincing argument at the time to him, appealing to his darker nature. It had been Sonia that had pulled him back from making a disastrous and possibly fatal decision.

He decided he would need to enforce discipline, but he couldn't be too hard. He had to choose just the right size of hammer to bring down on the crowd. As he got closer, he could see that crewmen had noticed him coming and the ones outside the gym doors were quickly filtering away in the opposite direction as they knew the regs regarding gambling and could read the Captain's face.

Those crew that were outside the door were the lucky and smart ones as the people inside the gym were so caught up in what was taking place that they didn't notice the Captain and two Lieutenants now standing at the doorway.

Paul saw what was happening in the martial arts training area and arched an eyebrow in surprise as he saw the brunette — Faith — that he "rescued" taking Sergeant Bronowski to school. He could easily tell that the Sergeant was in trouble. He studied the way she was moving and noted how she moved in a graceful predatory way. He saw the look on her face and in her eyes and he could see how focused and aware she was of her surroundings. He remembered what Lieutenant Evans had told him about both Slayers and how they were chosen to fight vampires and demons. A part of him tried to scoff it off, but meeting Buffy and now seeing Faith in action made it more real for him.

For a second, Paul debated stepping in and ending the match, but that would be too merciful for the Sergeant. He got an evil looking smirk on his face as he would wait until the match was over, which from the way things looked wouldn't be much longer.

The Captain was proven right as he watched Faith fake one way and drew the Sergeant in. She used her impressive speed and reflexes to get closer to the Sergeant and got him in a hold. Bronowski vainly tried to break out of her grip, but he failed and the next thing the crowd was gasping as she flipped the huge man over her, on to his back. There was silence in the gym as Faith moved quickly and pinned her opponent to the match. You could hear the referee clear as day as he performed the five count and slapped the mat to indicate that the match was over. The crowd started going nuts cheering or booing as Faith stood up and moved back to the center of the mat looking over the crowd.

**oOoOo**

Faith noticed the Captain standing there towards the back of the gym with Cassie standing just behind him. She suddenly got a bad vibe as she saw the grim look on Cassie's face as she shook her head slowly. Before Faith could say or do anything, the other officer with them moved forward and shouted in a loud crisp voice.

"CAPTAIN ON DECK!"

Faith had seen how the crew had reacted in the hospital before, but this was even more impressive and a little intimidating. Every one of the men and women who had been cheering, yelling, laughing just the moment before, were now standing as one at attention. Even her defeated opponent staggered to his feet and stood — somewhat woozily — at attention too. Faith couldn't believe how quiet it had suddenly gotten, she thought she could hear the sweat running down everyone's back as the Captain made his way through the crowd towards the mat.

She eyed the Captain as he moved to the edge of the mat and turned and faced the crowd. She didn't know what was going to happen next. She was caught by surprise when the Captain spoke in an almost quiet voice, but in the silence of the gym his voice carried far.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, it looks like you've been enjoying your day off, but you all know the regulations regarding gambling…"

Before Faith gave it any thought, she spoke out, "Aw com'on…we were just having some fun. Don't be such a Captain Bligh. Nothin' wrong with having a little fun." she said with a smirk on her face.

Paul turned to face Faith. He'd been caught off-guard by her outburst, but then he shouldn't have been surprised as she wasn't military, "I don't mind people having fun, but we have rules and regulations in place and even though you didn't know, these other people knew better."

Faith was getting a little hot under the collar with the Captain's attitude. She'd always had "issues" with authority and authority figures. She fought the urge to say something that she would regret, but then the Captain spoke again.

"All winnings will be returned to their owners."

All restraint went out the window for Faith and once again she spoke before thinking, "No…"

She hadn't yelled, but her words reverberated through the gym and the assembled people watched in stunned silence at her defiance towards the Captain.

"What did you say?"

"You heard me. I said no. I earned those winnings fair and square and you can't take them away from me!"

Paul paused as he looked in some disbelief at Faith's refusal to comply. He took a deep breath as he could feel his bad mood and anger start to bubble to the surface.

"We have rules and regulations regarding gambling and as a 'guest' on this ship, I would expect you to abide by them."

Faith could see that she was getting under the Captain's skin as he was trying hard to maintain control. A normal person would have known to have not pushed the situation, but Faith was far from "normal" and she wasn't about to back down and give up what she thought she'd earned fair and square.

"I didn't ask to be a guest here and what I do is my own business and I'm keeping what I won!"

Paul found himself fighting to not lose control as his anger continued to boil. A part of him was aware that the crew was still there watching them in stunned silence and he tried to keep his voice even and calm as he spoke, "I would think that you would be more grateful and appreciative that we put ourselves in harm's way to rescue you and your friends."

Faith smirked at the Captain unaware that she was playing with fire, "Yeah thanks for that, but it still doesn't excuse you for being an arrogant prick."

There was a collective gasp from the crowd as they heard Faith and again stunned silence descended as Paul and Faith stared at each other with neither giving ground.

Paul closed his eyes and counted to ten before he opened them again and responded.

"I'll give you a chance to walk away or—"

He didn't get a chance to finish as Faith interrupted, "Or what? It's easy thinking you're hot shit when you've got fancy toys like your motorcycles, jets and fancy rayguns. Why don't you take the stick out of your ass and stop being a dick and walk away yourself."

Again everyone gasped and out of the corner of his eye, Paul saw Lieutenant Hanson moving forward. He held up his hand to stop the Lieutenant in his tracks. Paul had a number of different ways he could handle the situation. The normal and most prudent course of action would have been to call Security and have Faith cool her heels in the brig for some time, but he wasn't in a normal mood. Faith had now become a focal point for all his pent up anger and normal rational thought was no longer in play.

"You think you're that good?"

Faith smirked at the question as a part of her could start to anticipate what was going to happen next. She could feel her blood rush and her heart start pounding in anticipation, "Yeah, I'm that good and I haven't seen anyone on this tub that can keep up with me yet."

Before anyone in the crowd could react, they saw their Captain taking off his uniform jacket. They were trying to shake off their disbelief at what was going to happen as he took off his boots. The crowd was buzzing as Faith and Paul stepped into the middle of the mat and faced off at each other.

Paul looked down at her meeting her eyes without blinking or backing down, "I win, you give back all your winnings."

Faith didn't back down meeting the Captain's stare, "Fine, When I win I get one of those motorcycles."

She was a little surprised when the Captain smirked at her response. They separated and moved to their respective sides of the mat as the crowd recovered from its shock and started cheering. Faith studied the Captain as she rotated her neck to loosen it up and took deep breaths to relax herself. He wasn't as muscle bound or as big as her last opponents, but she read his body language and her instincts were flashing her warning messages to not take him lightly.

The referee looked at both fighters and got the nod that they were both ready. He took a deep breath as he was still trying to come to grips with what he was about to oversee. He signalled for the match to start.

As the match started, one of the crew in the crowd having a feeling that they were about to see something epic, moved quickly and activated the gymnasium's video system to record and broadcast the event.

**oOoOo**

Giles waved to Buffy to join him at the table. Xander and Willow were already chowing down into lunch as Buffy pulled out a chair and joined them.

"The food that good?" Buffy asked with a smile as she saw Xander shoveling a spoonful into his mouth.

It took Xander a moment to swallow his mouthful, but he smiled as he did, "Yeah this food is the best." he said trying not to spit food over the others.

"Haven't seen much of you these last few days, Will." Buffy asked noting that her friend looked tired rather than rested like the others.

"It's amazing! The level of technology and the science behind it…it's…it's…just out of this world! I was in the engine section and looking over the space-fold system! It's…it's—"

"—Out of this world, I get it." Buffy said with a laugh.

"You don't seem to understand the power that's behind their systems." Willow said with a slight sheepish look on her face.

Giles was intrigued as he had some of it explained by Cassie and he'd been doing some reading the last few days from material that was available to access, "I understand that they use something called Protoculture as the fuel for their systems."

"Protoculture is just the end result! That they can use the pollen from a flower to create what's basically limitless energy! It's incredible!" Willow said getting excited again.

"I find it hard to believe that a flower can power spaceships." Xander said between spoonfuls of food.

"Now Xander, we've seen our fair share of strange things that have contained or been conjured to hold immense power. It may sound strange that a mere flower could contain that much power, but then I assume we are talking about an alien plant?" Giles said as he absorbed what Willow had told them.

Willow nodded excitedly as she recalled everything that she'd seen and learned over the last few days, "Yeah, this flower, it's called the Flower of Life and it's from the Invid homeworld. Evidently everyone in their galaxy is trying to control it. It's the main reason for all the wars."

Giles nodded sadly, "Yes, it seems that the quest for power and control is not local to our world or dimension." he said with a sigh.

"Have you guys seen Dawn?" I stopped by her room and she wasn't there." Buffy asked with some concern.

The others shook their heads, "Sorry Buff, haven't seen her since breakfast." Xander said before taking another bite.

Buffy frowned, "I'm worried about her."

"About the Captain finding out that she is a key that can unlock dimensions or the current clothing style she's wearing?" Willow asked.

"Both…" Buffy said shaking her head and getting smiles from the others in return.

"I personally see nothing wrong with the clothing that our gracious hosts have provided us." Xander said with a twinkle in his eye.

"This is my sister we're talking about." Buffy replied giving Xander the evil eye.

Xander gulped at the glare he got as he suddenly remembered he was grouping Buffy's baby sister into his own lecherous thoughts.

"I like the look," Willow blurted out catching everyone by surprise. She got an evil look from Buffy and quickly began to backtrack, "Uhhh…what I meant to say is that I like Kennedy in those outfits…she…uh…we…uh..." Willow trailed off as she started blushing seeing the strange looks and raised eyebrows she was getting from the others.

Xander smiled and quickly shook off the visual image he had, "Uh, back to the topic at hand. No, we haven't seen the Dawnster. Actually it's been really quiet. Usually there's a crowd in here, between the Potentials and the soldiers coming in to check them out."

"Yes, it has been pleasantly quiet for a change." Giles said as he enjoyed the relative peace and quiet with no apparent threats hanging over them.

"Yeah, especially with Spike staying in his—" Xander started to say as the vampire entered the cafeteria in a somewhat excited mood.

"Damn it! I knew I shouldn't have said his name." Xander muttered as he got sympathetic looks from Giles and Willow.

Spike made his way quickly to the table. Everyone could see that he was excited about something.

"What's wrong Spike?" Buffy asked with concern not sure what was wrong.

"You're not going to bloody believe it!" Spike said excitedly with a huge smile plastered across his face.

"Nobody cares, Spike." Xander said dismissing him with a wave of his hand.

Spike gave Xander a glare, but ignored him as he turned towards the kitchen and shouted, "Oi! Mate! Can you give us a hand and turn on that fancy video display?"

Spike waved as one of the kitchen staff came out to turn on the huge flat screen monitor that was mounted in the corner of the cafeteria.

"What's going on Spike?" Buffy asked somewhat confused as saw her confusion mirrored on her friends' faces.

"I was in my room, flipping through their fancy telly, trying to entertain myself—"

"No one cares about your stupid soap operas…" Xander said dismissively.

Spike gave Xander another hard glare, but ignored the shot as he continued on, "I was flipping through the channels trying to find something to watch when I found this bit of entertainment…"

The flat screen monitor came on just as Spike finished speaking and everyone's eyes went wide in shock and their mouths hung open with the scene that came to life.

"Oh dear..." Giles muttered as the others found themselves speechless at what they were watching.

"Yeah, who would have thought that the bloody ponce would have it in him? Though I think I'll put my money on the Slayer." Spike said with a huge smile stretching from ear to ear as he watched the Captain and Faith face off against each other.

**oOoOo**

_What is this guy?! Part vampire?!_

Faith couldn't believe that someone "normal" could be that fast. She had tried to go in hard and fast for the quick knockout blow, but her eyes went wide as the Captain spun out of her way avoiding her blow and managed to land a blow to her side which she easily shook off.

She had underestimated her opponent. She noted that he was studying her, looking for an opportunity and an opening to land a strike. She realized that the Captain was a much more dangerous opponent than anyone else she'd fought, but she was still confident that she would win in the end.

Paul was keeping his eyes glued to his opponent's body as she was trying to distract him with her arm movements. He was using everything he'd ever learned about fighting as he knew that he was in tough against her. His only hope was to stay out of her reach, landing some irritating blows and get her frustrated to the point that she would make a mistake.

_If she makes a mistake_, Paul thought as he moved quickly to the side to avoid a punch.

Faith studied the Captain's movements and a smirk came to her face as she realized what he was trying to do.

_Try and get me to overextend, we'll see who can frustrate who…_

**oOoOo**

The crowd was holding its collective breath as the two opponents danced and circled looking for an opportunity. When it happened they almost missed it as it happened so fast as Faith faked to her right and came in from her left. The Captain almost missed the move and dodged the blow, but she managed to get a loose grip on his arm as he twisted trying to break free. She managed to get enough of a grip to throw him across the mat.

Paul hit the ground hard and Faith jumped to make the pin, but her eyes went wide in surprise as he had already recovered and rolled out of the way and was back on his feet. He caught her with another blow in the side and this time she felt it, letting out a gasp in surprise.

"Not so bad for an old man…" Faith said as she took a moment to step back, keeping an eye on her opponent. She'd seen him do moves from at least three different forms of martial arts that she recognized.

"I'm full of surprises." He said taking the opportunity to catch his breath. His left arm and shoulder were throbbing as it felt like she almost dislocated it when she tossed him.

_Landing on it didn't help either_, he thought as he slowly rotated his arm and shoulder to gauge the damage. He saw Faith smirk at seeing that she'd caused some damage.

"I'm so looking forward to kicking your ass…" Faith said smiling.

**oOoOo**

Paul could feel the anger and his blood screaming to attack. His mind was drifting back to the first time he meet Sonia, back in the academy. It had been during self-defence training, he was still raw just off the streets of Brasilia. He had survived so much crap and thought that there wasn't anyone that could take him. He'd learned how to survive the mean streets and take down opponents who were bigger and outnumbered him. Sonia had shown him that day, he had so much more to learn.

He could almost hear her voice, _Patience…You have to be patient…Wait for your opportunity._

He wanted to be patient, but he could feel his blood screaming as memories of Sonia came roaring back. He saw her broken bloody body. He saw the image of her that The First used against him. He got distracted and Faith picked up on it. He recovered just in time, barely dodging her blow aimed for his mid-section.

Paul felt like he was watching himself outside his body as he moved and reacted. He knew this feeling, it had happened to him before. He wanted to give in to his anger and hate. He wanted to lash out and hit something, he wanted to destroy or kill something — anything. Edwards had read him and known his weakness. He had tried to exploit it by offering Paul if he joined him that he could fulfill his deepest desires — to kill all the Zentraedi in revenge for killing his family.

**oOoOo**

Faith could see a change in the Captain's face and eyes and she thought that she had him now. She lunged in and was surprised as he easily side-stepped her attack. She could feel her frustration grow as he had managed to last longer than any of her other opponents and even though she had managed to land a few good blows, he was still standing.

_He's got guts, but he knows he can't win_, Faith thought with a smirk as she decided to poke the bear once again.

"I'm gonna send you home cryin' for your momma!" she said with a laugh.

As Faith said the words, something snapped inside Paul and his internal walls crumbled and his anger and hate that he repressed came roaring out. All he heard and saw was their screams as they were incinerated by the fireball as images of his mom and sister came rushing back. He could recall clearly every little detail on their faces as the flames seemed to engulf them in slow motion.

There was no control. There were no thoughts of mercy. There was only the hate, the wanting to hit back and not feel helpless and all alone.

Faith picked up the change in the Captain as her instincts and reflexes screamed warnings. She saw the look in the Captain's eyes and she got a bad feeling. They had gone completely black — like all the life had left them. She hesitated at that crucial moment as she saw the blackness there and felt as if she was looking into a mirror of her soul.

Everyone in the gym and those watching via video were caught by surprise as the Captain attacked catching Faith off-balance. They watched, stunned, as a flurry of blows were exchanged that moved at speeds that were hard to keep up with. The crowd watched in stunned silence as Faith tried to recover and threw several hard punches that the Captain somehow managed to block. One of the punches got through, but in his blood-lust the Captain shook it off as he continued his attack.

Buffy, still watching in the cafeteria, picked up the change in tone and knew that something was wrong. She got a bad feeling about this fight. She started to get up to rush to the gym to put a stop to the match. Before she was even out of her chair, Faith was on the ground and the Captain was on top of her pinning her to the mat.

**oOoOo**

Faith found herself gasping for air, lying on her back on the mat. She'd been so focused on trading punches having been both surprised and impressed by the moves that the Captain used to block them. In that moment she lost awareness of her situation and somehow he read it and attacked her with an unexpected leg sweep move that she'd never seen before.

Before she could recover, the Captain was across her body pinning her in place. She wasn't worried at first as she knew she could use her strength and leverage to break free and recover. Before she could even begin that move, the Captain had shifted his position and was now leaning forward with his forearm pushed into her windpipe. She tried to get her arms on his, but even with her strength it was like trying to move steel as she had no leverage and he was using his weight and gravity to assist.

The crowd was stunned at this change in fortunes. They could see that something was wrong, but they were all paralyzed, unable and not knowing what to do as they all watched helplessly in silence as the final moves of this fight played out.

Faith could feel her breath being cut-off and the realization dawned on her that he wasn't going to stop choking her. A part of her was screaming for her to keep fighting, but she looked into his dark black-like eyes and found another part of her wanted to let go.

_What do I have to live for?_

She remembered Buffy mentioning once that Spike had told her that all Slayers have a death-wish. She hadn't wanted to believe it, but in that moment looking into those dark eyes she knew it was true.

_My pain will be over soon_, she thought as her vision began to grey out along the edges. She stopped struggling and pulling on the Captain's arm. She saw the pain, hate, sorrow, regret and anger in those eyes and it mirrored what she felt in her soul for what she had experienced in her life.

Even as her lungs burned for air, she could feel tears form in her eyes. She had a sudden epiphany, the tears weren't for her as she realized that they were for the Captain.

_He'll still have to live with his pain after I'm gone_, she thought as a tear rolled down her face.

"It's okay… It'll be alright…" she managed to croak out in a hoarse whisper.

**oOoOo**

Paul could hear and feel his blood pounding in his head and heart as he continued to apply pressure. He could hear his drill instructor's voice telling him how much pressure could be applied to a person's throat before you crushed their windpipe and asphyxiated them. He could see all their faces as he kept applying pressure. He thought he heard someone call for him to stop, but there was no going back. That's when he heard her voice.

Her voice was barely a whisper, but the words were like a slap in the face. He fought through his blood lust and saw the tear roll down her face as her eyes meet his. His eyes went wide as he suddenly realized what he was doing and what he'd almost done.

Faith felt the pressure lessen and saw that the Captain's eyes had turned back to their deep dark brown. For a moment she felt herself lost in those eyes and then she saw the pained look on his face as he pulled his arm away from her throat.

Paul looked down at Faith and it felt like he was just waking up from a nightmare, but this was real. He didn't know what to say or do. He felt naked as his emotions burst to the surface for all to see.

"I…I…I'm sorry." he managed to say in a barely audible voice as he stood up.

He turned around and looked at the people in the gym — his crew.

_My responsibility…_

"I…I'm sorry." he said in low voice, but in the silence of the gym it carried everywhere. He quickly moved, grabbing his uniform jacket and boots and left the room without a pause leaving everyone stunned and speechless in his wake.


	21. Happy hour…

**CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE:**

**Happy hour…**

"_…Received a call from Dr. Lazlo Zand today. He was inquiring as to why I was trying to access certain restricted files in regards to genetic engineering. His tone and from the way the conversation was headed gave me a really bad feeling. Without thinking about it at the time, I informed him that I had found some old blood samples from deceased Zentraedi soldiers and was conducting some research_ _rather than tell him who the blood samples were actually from. My bad feeling was confirmed when he ordered that I immediately stop all research and transfer all samples, notes and records to him... To buy some time, I informed Dr. Zand that the samples had been contaminated and were no longer viable, but I would forward what notes I had when I had the chance. What also disturbed me was during our conversation, Dr. Zand let slip certain words during our conversation. I thought that he might have been careless, but I got the impression that he was trying to probe me for information when he used the words… Exposure… Protoculture… and something he called the "Flower of Life". I found myself shaking after the call and didn't waste any time in destroying my notes and records regarding my patient. In the best interests of my patient, I also decided to _not_ inform him or Commander Sterling of my findings and about the call I got from Dr. Zand... I am hesitant to even keep this private journal, but there is no other record of what I have found. I can only hope that I am doing right by my patient. What Dr. Zand let slip about "exposure" and that "Flower of Life" makes me wonder what the long term effects and impacts will be on my young patient…_"

— Excerpt from the private journal of Doctor (Lt. Cmdr.) Marcus Jacobs (Monument City, 2018)

**oOoOo**

Paul was still dripping wet as he left the shower behind him and walked across his room with a towel wrapped around him. He stopped in front of the observation window and gazed out at the view. He found himself staring at the blue and white world that hung there. He remembered the first time he saw Earth from space. His Dad had taken him to one of the observation areas on the SDF-1. He'd been mesmerized at the time filled with dreams of the wonders and opportunities that awaited him, despite the fact that the Zentraedi were trying to kill them all.

Memories came back to another time that he'd watched the planet. Alert sirens and alarms were going off throughout the ship and all the citizens had gone to the shelters. His mom had reported to the hospital where she worked and his dad was with his squadron. He had been only eight years old at the time, but he could perfectly recall the worried and scared look on his mother's face as her and dad said good-bye, for what possibly seemed like the last time. He had been sent to the shelters with some family friends, but he had managed to sneak out. He found a small quiet area where the observation window looked towards the planet. He saw space filled with ships around the SDF-1 and surrounding that little blue and white planet almost obscuring it from view. He couldn't believe that there could be that many spaceships in existence, further thoughts were cut-off as the space around Earth lit up like the sun as Dolza's armada opened fire on the planet. He had watched a planet die that day…

Maybe if this Earth was his, he would have appreciated the view more, but not at this moment. It was only a reminder of what he'd lost and what he'd become. He felt his shoulder twinge and he rotated it and stretched it to try and work out the pain. During the match, he had only noticed the pain in his shoulder at the time, but now along with that pain, he could feel all his muscles and joints aching, even after the longer than usual hot shower. He sighed as he knew that wasn't what was bothering him the most. He'd lost control, something he hadn't done in years. A part of him knew that he shouldn't have won that fight. He tried to recall how many fights and battles he had managed to survive that he had no right to.

_I should have died years ago… I should be dead already… Why am I still alive when so many others…like Sonia have died?_

He'd heard what people used to say about him behind his back. They called him a "natural born killer" that he had no soul or compassion and those were some of the more polite comments. Even some of the women he'd been with had called him "emotionally detached" to his face, but a little bit more colorfully. He'd remembered how Sonia used to jump to his defense. She'd known him the best out of everyone. He'd let her in further than anyone else since his family had died. She had known his deepest and darkest secrets and fears.

Yes, he had won the match against Faith, but he had almost killed her — he _would_ have killed her because he lost control and let his darker nature control him. His encounter with The First down on the planet had torn open all the old wounds and he'd ended up using Faith as his punching bag to take his anger out on.

More memories came as he continued looking out the observation window. He remembered how he used to embrace the anger and hate and how he loved how it made him feel as he pushed himself past the limit. He snorted as he remembered how Max Sterling had once sat him down and told him that he was a good pilot, but that he was even a better killer. At the time, Paul had taken it as a compliment. All he wanted to do was fly, fight and the other fun "F". That was all he wanted out of life, there were no tomorrows, there was only today — the moment he lived in. He'd been surprised, when Max said it wasn't a compliment, but a warning and that if he didn't reign it in he would get himself and probably get others around him killed. Again at the time, it hadn't fazed Paul as he was an arrogant SOB who thought he knew it all and seen it all. Even as he brushed off the Commander's warning, a part of him knew that he had a death wish. All that Paul wanted, at the time, was as much "fun" as he could have before he did that final punch-out.

Sonia's death changed everything. He'd been so wrapped up in his own desires and wants — how many kills he could get…how many women he could bed — that he hadn't been there when she needed him the most. Her squadron got wiped out that day. If he'd hadn't been on one of his glory seeking death-defying flight of the Valkyrie-type missions, she and some of the others in her squadron would probably still be alive.

For years he suffered nightly nightmares about holding her broken body as she looked at him and tried to speak. For years he had to live through those dreams and those waking moments reliving that exact moment when he realized how much she had actual meant to him. For years, he'd tried to not get emotionally involved with any of the women he hooked up with, but Sonia had been different. She understood him and put up with his crap for years. They had shared so much together, they seemed to always fall in and out of bed together. They went through their continual cycle of hook up for intense sex and then end up arguing like cats and dogs almost always about something trivial, followed by the inevitable break-up and go weeks barely saying words between each other to only start it all over again.

She'd always been the level-headed one, while he was always pushing the limits. He was always getting into trouble and she was always the one bailing him out. She was his harbor of calm in the crazy storm that was his life. She was always trying to get him to see his potential and strive to be better. It was in that final moment, as she reached up trying to touch him with her life fading, that he realized how much she had loved him. He blamed himself and his stubborn narcissistic stupidity for them losing out on a chance for any sort of happiness together.

He fell apart after her death, descending into heavy drinking and even more — if possible for him — debauchery along with volunteering for every suicide mission that came up. He'd hoped to die in the cockpit, but the fates denied him the Viking funeral he wanted. He was in a death-spiral and it finally came to a head after one long night of drinking when he found himself stroking the trigger of his side-arm with the barrel in his mouth. If it hadn't been for Chief Larson showing up at his door and the resulting ass-kicking she gave him, he'd probably be dead.

Rachel had slapped some sense back into him and it had taken some time, but he pulled himself back together. He'd then gone to Max and Admiral Hunter to ask for a transfer out of the Skulls and command of the Grim Reapers. They had been both skeptical at first, but Max had seen the different look in his eyes and managed to convince the Admiral. Paul had not disappointed them since then.

Since that time he had stuffed his feelings and emotions behind a wall. A part of him knew that it wasn't healthy to do that, but he needed to do that in order to still be an effective killer, which the REF needed as the struggle against the Invid became more intense. His mental wall allowed him to temper and reign in his emotions and he became an effective squadron commander and a better combat leader — just like Sonia had told him on many occasions he could be. His walls still let him care about the men and women under his command, but kept them at a distance. Other than Chief Larson, he had no close friends left and there were no relationships. Some days he could feel the loneliness, but it was better than feeling that pain again.

He moved to his desk, opening a drawer and pulled out a bottle of scotch along with a shot glass — he may have cleaned up his act, but old habits die hard. He sighed as he watched the liquor pour into the shot glass. He knew that he couldn't get drunk as he had to be on duty within the hour, but he needed something as his emotions still felt raw. He held the shot glass out to the Earth and stars in a salute to Sonia and the others and threw back the shot. He could feel the memories wash over him as the warmth of the whiskey spread through his throat and stomach. His memories drifted back to that first day he'd met Sonia at the academy. A small tired smile came to his face as he suddenly found Faith drifting into his thoughts. It was strange, but he found himself comparing the two of them. In some ways the Slayer reminded him of Sonia.

Paul looked at the empty shot glass and debated about whether to pour himself another shot or not when his door chimed, making the decision for him. A tired grimace came to his face as reality came intruding back in. He felt old and tired, but he knew that he still had duties and responsibilities to carry out. He didn't hesitate as he put the cap back on the bottle

"Enter." he said as he turned to look out the window.

As he heard the door open, he was figuring it was Lieutenant Hanson with a status update or another damage control report. A small smile came to his face as he hoped that the young nervous Lieutenant would settle down into his new role as First Officer soon. Paul was caught off-guard as he heard a female voice clear her throat and speak.

"Uhhh… Hi."

**oOoOo**

Faith found herself dealing with her own flood of emotions and feelings along with bruises and sore muscles after losing the match to Captain Coleiro. At first, her mood was overshadowed by a dark cloud with a little accompanying voice, in her head, mocking her because she had under-estimated the Captain after the easy go she'd had with the other challengers. She was still shaking her head and was having a hard time believing that she'd faced off against someone that fast and with definite skills and _wasn't_ a vampire, a demon or Buffy.

As Faith picked herself slowly off the mat and caught her breath, Cassie had come out to check on her after the Captain had abruptly left the gym. Faith saw the worried and concerned look in her face and for some unknown reason, she found herself joking and playing down the whole fight. She saw the skeptical look that Cassie had given her as she eyed the bruises on her neck, but Faith said it was just the intensity of the fight and there had been no real danger. She could see that Cassie wasn't completely convinced, but she didn't push the matter further.

After returning all her winnings — she wasn't going to go back on her word — Faith slinked back to her quarters. She sought to wash away her embarrassment of getting her ass handed to her along with easing her aches and bruises with a long hot shower. As she took her time, still getting used to — and enjoying guilt-free — what seemed like an endless supply of hot water, she found her thoughts drifting back to how the Captain had saved her life in Sunnydale with what she even had to admit was a pretty spectacular entrance. She remembered how he'd handled his ride and how she had felt as she held on tightly to him as they made their wild ride. The mocking voice, in her head, changed its tone and scolded her for acting like an ass with the Captain. She replayed the whole confrontation again and found herself _somewhat_ grudgingly admitting that _maybe_ she could have handled it better. She let out a sigh as she knew that she had no one but herself to blame for what had happened.

Her thoughts moved on to the fight as she replayed all her and his moves. She wanted to know what had happened to set him off. One moment she was doing her normal trash talking and the next moment he was going at her like a berserker. She found herself at a loss for a reason as to why he flipped like a light switch.

_All I did was say something about sending him home crying…_

His sudden attack had caught her off guard and what bothered and surprised her was how she had hesitated at that critical moment. As the water cascaded down her body, she couldn't believe that she had hesitated, it wasn't like her to hesitate when she had the advantage. She'd hesitated when fighting Angelus, but that had been part of her plan to save Angel. She wanted to know why she paused. She knew she could have taken him…_she should have taken him_. She remembered the look of what could only be called pure rage and shuddered suddenly with a cold feeling, despite the hot water, as she recalled how his eyes looked. She couldn't believe that eyes could get that black. It was like looking into darkness where no light would ever shine. She had a brief worried thought that maybe the Captain had been possessed by The First, but the look was one of blood-lust as she remembered how her eyes would look, when she stared in the mirror, during her dark times. She could see that exact moment when he realized what he was doing to her. She shivered slightly, recalling how intense his eyes looked even when they turned back "normal".

While Faith handed back her hard fought winnings, she talked to Cassie and surprisingly found herself asking questions about the Captain. A part of her wasn't surprised to hear that he was a highly decorated soldier, but she was definitely surprised to hear Cassie refer to him as a "living legend" in the REF.

She found herself going over everything that she knew, so far, about him and found herself puzzled — and surprisingly frustrated — as Captain Coleiro didn't seem to fit any of her preconceived molds that she had for men. She first considered the Captain to be just like Riley, but there was something darker and more dangerous there. She recalled her time with Robin — in and out of bed — but that didn't match up. She found herself considering the Captain to be a mix of Riley and Robin with a hefty dash of Giles thrown into the mix, but it still fell short. She gave up in frustration as she realized that the truth was that he was a lot more complicated than all that. She recalled, with a smile, how Buffy had talked about her meeting with the Captain and that Xander had a man crush going for him — referring to him as a Captain Kirk-type. Faith had to admit that there was a certain sex appeal there for someone that was not only fighter pilot, but commanded a huge spaceship.

As she went over everything in her mind, she was also surprised to discover that she _wanted_ the fight to occur. She felt a slight shiver as she recalled how her heart and blood raced in anticipation that they would face off against one another. She let out a small sigh as she admitted to herself that she'd been turned on by that wild ride and this was followed up by the stark realization that she wanted to see what kind of man he was without all the fancy equipment.

As she dried herself off and got dressed, Faith found herself antsy and on edge despite the long — and wonderful — hot shower. She found herself craving a smoke. She let out another dejected sigh as she recalled how Willow had told her, the last time she'd wanted a smoke, that it was apparently a "bad thing" to have an open flame on a spacecraft. Faith couldn't remember the exact reason it was bad as she'd tuned the Wiccan out shortly after that as she went on about something to do with pure oxygen.

Still feeling agitated, Faith found she couldn't sit around her room. Going for another workout was out of the question, so she decided to settle for going on a walk with the added bonus of doing a little exploring around the ship. Group tours had been offered and given, but she hadn't gone on any of them as that type of "tourist-type" action had never been her style.

It didn't take her much effort to get past the security personnel, that were posted, and she soon found herself walking the ship's corridors, drawing the occasional stare from passing crewmen. She made sure to note her path as the last thing she wanted was to get lost and not be able to find her way back to her quarters or even worse go out an airlock and end up drifting forever in space.

As she walked, taking in the sights and getting familiar with the layout of the huge ship, she again found her thoughts drifting to the Captain. Out of some impulse, she couldn't explain, she suddenly found herself stopping one of the ship's crew, in the middle of a corridor, and without any hesitation she was asking for directions on how to find the Captain.

At first, the crewman gave her a strange look, but then he smiled as he realized who she was. Faith kept her temper in check as the crewman made some obnoxious comments about her fight. The dark cloud briefly returned as she realized that her fight with the Captain had been broadcast out to the whole ship and _everyone_ was talking about it. She stuffed down her dark thoughts, also ignoring the look the crewman gave her as she could feel his eyes run up and down her body as he obliging called the bridge to find out the Captain's whereabouts. She overheard the reply that he was currently off-duty in his quarters. She surprised herself again, as she heard her voice speak as if it had a life of its own, asking the crewman for directions to the Captain's quarters. A smile formed on her face as she saw the flabbergasted look on the young crewman's face.

Now as she stood in front of the Captain's door, she found herself in a strange situation. She had found it easier to ask for the directions and get here than it was to actually knock on the door now that she was here. She took a deep breath as she found herself unaccustomedly hesitant standing there looking at the door. She shook her head to shake herself out of this feeling as she was never one to hold back or pause. She paused again looking at the door and found herself playing out a number of different scenarios in her mind as to how she would explain why she was at his door. She gave her head another shake and got control back over herself enough to finally press the door chime and wait.

It felt like an eternity, but she finally heard the Captain's voice. This time there was no hesitation as she entered his quarters. As the door opened and she entered, she expected a number of possible scenes to play out. What she hadn't expected was to see the Captain standing there only wearing a towel wrapped around him — looking like he'd just gotten out of the shower — with his back to her looking out a window at the darkness of space with the Earth hanging there with what looked like a bottle of whiskey beside him. She found herself surprised along with a little shock as he once again had put her off-balance at seeing this side of his character.

She paused for what seemed like a long moment to admire the unexpected scene. She couldn't help herself as she felt her blood stir as she saw some droplets of water run down his arms and back. She suddenly became aware of a growing itch inside her that needed to be scratched.

Normally she would have said some biting remark laced with sexual innuendo. This time, for some unknown reason, she didn't want to put her foot in her mouth. She decided to take a — uncharacteristically for her — different approach.

**oOoOo**

Paul whipped around, almost forgetting that he was only wearing a towel at the moment, and found himself facing a smirking Faith. For a second he was confused and at a loss of words. He saw Faith studying him and he became self-conscious of how he must look to her. He was one to never back down from any sort of challenge or fight and so he stood there looking at his unexpected guest not moving to change or apologize for his current attire.

"What can I do for you?" he asked innocently.

Faith bit her tongue to keep her first instinct and comment from rushing out of her mouth. She could tell from the Captain's stance that he wasn't going to curl up or run off and hide, just because she had caught him at a slight disadvantage. She could tell that he would always be one that would never give up an advantage unless he wanted to or it suited his needs.

_He'd probably still and try and look all "Captainy" even if his towel fell off_, she thought as her eyes ran up and down his chest and body. She'd known that he had a well-toned body, as their uniforms tended to highlight that fact, but now she was getting an even better look. She could see the numerous scars on his arms and chest, but there was one on his lower torso that was just peaking above the top of his towel. It looked like an old burn scar, from the fading and she wondered how far down it went. Faith suddenly found her mind drifting into more erotic territory as her eyes looked at the towel. She suddenly remembered that the Captain had asked her a question. She recovered enough, as her eyes snapped back upward, to speak in a somewhat normal voice.

"I wanted to talk to you about the fight."

Faith saw the change in his face and instantly regretted bringing it up.

"Yeah…I'm sorry about what happened there. How's the throat." he replied in a grim voice and even grimmer face.

Seeing the look on his face, she immediately found she wanted to change the mood, "What do ya have to be sorry about? See…bruises are already going away. One of the benefits of being a Slayer. Besides you beat me fair and square. It's been a while since anyone took me like that." she said with a lopsided smile.

Paul felt a mix of anger with him himself, embarrassment and something else he couldn't put into words as he looked at her. He saw the smile and heard the tone in her voice, but he wasn't going to let himself off the hook that easily, "I…I could have… I shouldn't have fought you. It's been years since I've done anything like that. It wasn't my place or role to jump in like that. I could've handled it better."

Faith arched an eyebrow in surprise as she couldn't believe that the Captain was actually apologizing _to her_. She momentarily found herself speechless as she analyzed the situation and didn't see any other agenda at work than that he was actually sorry for what had gone down.

She felt a sarcastic reply start to form in her mouth, but she pushed it aside as she could see that he was beating himself up about what had happened. She was slightly surprised as she found that she actually wanted to say something to make him feel better and snap him out of that mood. She decided to try changing the subject.

"I've had worse, plus I think I had something to do with how things played out as well." she said shrugging and flashing a crooked grin. Her grin grew bigger as she saw the surprised look grow on his face.

"You know for an old man, you fight pretty good. It didn't look like years to me out there. You used to fight lots?"

Paul could see the olive branch that she was trying to extend and he surprisingly found that he wanted to take it.

"Back when I was in the academy and the first couple of years with the expeditionary force. I was undefeated for five years before I decided to hang it up." he said with a small smirk changing the look of his face.

She arched an eyebrow again in surprise as she got an idea of how good he was. She saw the smirk on his face and decided she liked the change in his face. It looked much better than the serious look he seemed to always be projecting. She found a part of her studying him — trying to imagine how he would have looked younger. She found herself liking the way he looked right now — especially only wearing a towel.

There was a long moment of awkward silence as Faith and the Captain stood there looking at each other. He finally broke the silence, "You wanted something?"

Faith tried not to laugh at the phrasing the Captain was unintentionally using as she felt her heart beat just a little faster as her eyes wandered again. She quickly called up _one_ of the reasons, she'd stopped by to see him.

"I was wondering if you could maybe show me some of those moves that you used on me?" she asked as she momentarily put her eyes back on his face. She could feel her pulse rate increasing slightly as that nagging itch was still there — wanting to be scratched.

Paul studied the young woman in front of him. He could see a little of Sonia in there, but there was something else in there. The way she held herself and the look in her eyes, he could see the predator just lurking beneath the surface — ready to strike out in an instant. He knew what a "Slayer" was and did. Again it still seemed somewhat unreal and impossible, but then he reminded himself that he had a vampire running around on his ship as well.

_His ship… His crew…_

He once again felt the weight of command and the big shoes that he now had to fill. Being a squadron commander was something he was used to and good at. He knew that there had been talk about moving him up into a CAG role and eventually commanding a ship, but he loved being in the cockpit. He'd never been ambitious about his career other than flying Veritechs. He'd even fought promotions to stay where he was. A part of him wanted to keep flying until he got his Viking funeral.

But now he'd been thrown into the deep water, with weights tied to his ankles, and forced to swim not only for his life but for his crew as well. He still had no idea if they would or could ever get back to their dimension and he was unsure of what to do next as this situation was completely out of his training and experience. He found himself trying to think what Max, Admiral Hunter and Sonia would do in this situation. His biggest fear was letting down those that relied upon him…he'd been down that road before.

He pushed those thoughts and doubts aside for the moment and refocused on the young woman standing in front of him. He found himself struggling to keep a somewhat serious look on his face as he stood there only wearing a towel. His thoughts were drifting and noted that his younger self would have probably already made his move on her — with a very high degree of certainty that his towel and her clothes would end up in a pile on the floor. As those thoughts, unexpectedly came, his eyes glanced towards the bed and he immediately felt a rush of blood start to move to other areas of his body. He suddenly had to concentrate harder and stay focused.

"You...you want me to instruct you…in fighting?" he said somewhat incredulous as he regained, somewhat, his equilibrium so that it wasn't showing through his towel.

"Whoa… I wouldn't go that far Captain Crunch. I've been fighting almost my whole life and being a Slayer means I've picked up a few things here and there." Faith said with a laugh, shaking her head slowly.

"And yet I did put you on your ass." Paul said with a grin of his own. He listened to how rough and brash she sounded and it reminded him of his early days in the academy.

_That I didn't get kicked out for all the shit I pulled, was nothing less than a miracle…_

Faith let out a small sigh, "Yeah…there's that."

Her earlier decision that she liked how the Captain looked when he grinned was confirmed. She liked how he could dish it back without missing a beat,

Paul's took a moment to think about his reply. His first inclination was to say no. He was Captain and he was too busy for games, but he saw the look on Faith's face and in her eyes and something made him rethink his decision. He let out a sigh hoping that he was going to regret his decision.

"As you know we're a little short-handed on the ship and all hands are busy trying to get her back into operation…"

Faith actually felt a little disappointment at the Captain's response.

"…but maybe we can squeeze in a few sessions in the gym…depending on our operational status."

A big smile formed her on face at his answer. She actually felt excited, but she couldn't explain why.

"Sounds sweet, Captain Crunch." she said causing him to shake his head at how she was addressing him and glad that no one was around to hear it.

"So when do we start?" she asked hopefully.

Paul shook his head, "I've got to go on duty… I'm down in the main hanger bay working with Chief Larson."

"Whatcha doing there?" she asked, catching herself by surprise that she was actually curious and interested about what he was doing.

The question also caught Paul off-guard as he could tell from her tone that she was actually interested in what he was doing and not just engaging in polite conversation after getting her way.

"Well…I'm helping the Chief to get our drone fighters repaired and back on-line. Other than Lieutenant Evans and myself, we have no fighter pilots right now and until we can get some of the other crew trained we're a little defenseless."

"Drone fighters?" Faith said looking a little confused and suddenly feeling a little self-conscious. She found herself wishing that she'd paid a little more attention to Willow as she'd gone on and on about the ship and its technology.

Paul didn't notice her discomfort, "Computer-controlled aircraft…the latest and greatest. Takes eighteen years to get a Veritech pilot and the Invid have us badly outnumbered, so our engineers developed the Shadow drone fighter... We can mass produce them and they can fight well enough to counteract their numbers. We had a number of the drones assigned to the Arcadia and those that survived the battle transitioned here with us, but looks like their systems are damaged and we've got to repair them."

"Sounds boring." Faith commented honestly.

Paul snorted, "Yeah it's not exactly glamorous work but it's necessary, so needs to get done."

"So how 'bout after you're done we…ah…do some grappling?' Faith said with a twinkle in her eye as she ran her eyes up and down the Captain again.

Paul missed the look she gave him, but he thought he picked up something different in her tone. Again thoughts of what the younger him would do flashed through his mind. Once again he found that he had to focus to keep his "equilibrium" from growing and showing through his towel.

A thought flashed through his mind, _I'm too old for this…_

He was surprised by the feelings he was getting as he hadn't felt something like this in years. He had neatly compartmentalized his emotions and life. He was focused on what he needed and was required to do. The last thing he needed was some twenty-something old woman to come crashing into his life — no matter how beautiful she looked. Paul knew that in his younger days, he would have bed a woman like her and walked away without a second thought.

_Soulless bastard one woman had called me…_

He looked at Faith and saw someone that deserved better than that. Paul pushed his thoughts and emotions away. Before he could think he found himself saying, "I won't make a promise I can't keep, but depending how long the work takes, we might be able to have some time later that I can show you a few moves."

Faith was actually surprised as she was finding herself torn dealing with some mixed emotions the more she talked with the Captain. A small voice was trying to make itself be heard — screaming at her to rip his towel off and ride him until one of them screamed uncle. Another part of her was actually — she couldn't put the feeling into words — excited and happy that he was treating her like a person rather than trying to get into her pants. When the Captain had said that he wouldn't make her promises that he couldn't keep, she was surprised that she found she actually believed him. This was surprising to her as the only man that she'd ever believed to keep his word to her was Angel.

Faith was lost in her thoughts and feelings, that she was again caught off-guard as the Captain moved closer to her. She was off-balance and didn't know what was happening as he was suddenly very close to her and she suddenly became even more aware of how under-dressed he was. For a moment, time seemed to freeze for her and she felt her heart start to beat harder. She suddenly felt her mouth and lips go dry and she lightly licked her lips as the Captain leaned in closer. Her senses were heightened as she could feel the heat coming off his body and smell the fresh clean shower scent. A part of her mind and body was wanting — literally screaming — for him to take her. She was so caught up in the moment that she'd missed what he'd said.

"Huh?" she managed to sputter out.

Paul couldn't help but get a small knowing smile on his face as he could see that he'd put her off-balance, "I said excuse me… I need to get my uniform from the closet behind you... I can't go to the hanger deck dressed like this."

More erotic images danced through her head as she regained some focus, "Huh… Yeah…right..." she mumbled as she moved to the side, but was still close enough to the Captain as he pulled a clean uniform out of the closet, that she could still feel his strong presence. She licked her dry lips again and could feel her skin flush as she watched him walk back to the bathroom to change. She let out a deep exhale once he was out of the room and took the break to regain her thoughts and composure. Her eyes drifted to the bottle and shot glass on the frame of the observation window.

"Do ya mind if I have a drink?" Faith said in a loud voice to make sure the Captain heard her in the bathroom.

"Go ahead and help yourself… There's a clean glass in the top left hand drawer of the desk."

Faith didn't hesitate as she really wanted that drink right now. She opened the desk drawer and as she reached for the shot glass, she saw a picture frame turned upside down. She didn't fight her natural curiosity as she picked up the frame and turned it over to look at it. She was surprised to see two young people in uniform holding each other closely mugging for the camera. She immediately recognized the young man as the Captain. She studied the face in the picture. He was smiling, but he had a look in his eyes and she immediately recognized the look. She'd seen the same look in Buffy's and her own eyes in the mirror, the look of a predator…_a killer_. She let out an involuntary shudder as she could feel the intensity of his look even through the picture.

She quickly turned her attention to the young woman in the picture. She figured that the woman couldn't have been much older than twenty-two and she was wearing a uniform similar to the Captain in the picture. She noted that the young woman was good looking with blonde hair cut short that only seemed to highlight her face even more. The young woman had her arms wrapped around the Captain's neck and was leaning in close that their heads were touching. The woman had a big smile on her face. Faith suddenly felt like she'd been slapped as she suddenly recognized the look on the woman's face. The look was one of happiness and…_love_.

She suddenly and surprisingly felt unsure and full of self-doubt as she tried to deal with the implications of the picture. She quickly put the picture back in the drawer and closed it trying to push away the image of the couple that was burned into her mind as she went to the bottle of whiskey and poured herself a shot as thoughts raced through her mind.

_Of course a guy like him would have someone… He's a fighter pilot… He's hot looking… He's probably married to the blonde…_

She felt strangely disappointed and suddenly felt completely out of her element and self-conscious of all her short comings as she downed her drink and felt the warmth of the whiskey hit her. As her thoughts continued she found herself gazing around the room — for the first time — and she was suddenly struck by a funny thought.

_If he's married or hooked up with blondie, how come there're no other pictures of her? That's funny…there're no personal pictures other than that picture which was stuffed in the desk_, she thought getting a funny feeling studying the Captain's room and seeing that it was very spartan in décor and personal possessions. Faith poured herself another shot as her gaze drifted back towards the bathroom where the Captain was.

_You're a mystery Captain Coleiro… Who are you?_ she thought as she tossed back the shot.


	22. What's got you so happy…?

**CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO:**

**What's got you so happy…?**

"_…I am still concerned about any toxic and/or allergenic effects that may arise as a result of my patient having consumed these leaves over a long period while trying to survive on the streets. Even though all normal standard blood and toxicology reports have come back as normal, I am still worried about the abnormalities I have discovered during my physical examination. With that in mind, I have decided to run a more thorough and detailed DNA genetic analysis on my patient's blood samples…_"

— Excerpt from private journal of Doctor (Lt. Cmdr.) Marcus Jacobs (Monument City, 2018)

**oOoOo**

"Hey!"

Cassie was just leaving her quarters when the voice caught her by surprise. She immediately recognized the voice and a smile was already across her face as she turned and saw Xander jogging down the corridor towards her.

"Hey yourself." she said as he stopped in front of her bending over slightly to catch his breath. Cassie couldn't help herself as her smile got larger as she looked him over.

"What?" he asked giving her a funny look as he saw her looking him over. A smile was growing across his face in response.

"Nothin', just glad to see you."

"Well that's good. Uhhh…I was wondering if we could grab a bite and spend some time together. You've been pretty busy these last few days."

Cassie could feel her smile start to fade and could see the beginnings of a disappointed look form on Xander's face, "Sorry, I wish I could. I'm scheduled to go down to the main hanger. I'm working with the Captain and Chief Larson, helping with the repairs on our drone fighters."

"I thought that the Captain gave everyone the day off?"

She sighed, "Yes he did, but we also need those fighters back on-line."

Xander shrugged, "What? You guys expecting an attack? Not from Earth…you guys got us out-classed by miles!"

Cassie shook her head, "No, there's no threat, it's just that we have to be prepared…just in case. Better to have the fighters and not use them, rather than need them and not have them."

"Beautiful looks, a fighter pilot and smart…the triple whammy all in one complete package." he said with a huge grin.

Cassie couldn't help but blush at the compliment, "So you understand? We can meet up later."

Xander found himself once again comparing her to Buffy and Faith. Even though he understood she had responsibilities and a job to do, he still couldn't stop his disappointment from showing through. He wanted to spend more time with her and it seemed that they were actually spending less time together here than when they were back in Sunnydale. He suddenly got an idea.

"Maybe I can help. I'm pretty good with my hands. I've worked in construction. I know it's not the same, but if you need someone to run as your gopher…then I'm your man."

"Gopher?" Cassie said a little puzzled as she'd never heard that term before.

Xander laughed, "You know…go for this…go for that. Hell I'll even sweep the decks if it means I get to spend time with you."

Cassie laughed even as she shook her head slowly, "You know you're incorrigible."

Xander feigned a slightly insulted look, "I would let you know my lady, I've been called many things, but never incorrigible."

"Well you are." Cassie said as she took his hand and half dragged him as he faked resisting going with her as she continued smiling and shaking her head.

**oOoOo**

As they walked hand in hand, Xander was trying to find a way to bring up a topic of concern. He was trying to keep his growing guilty feeling in check, but Giles and Buffy had approached him because of his relationship with Cassie. He agreed with their concern, but a part of him was worried about wrecking what was developing between the two of them.

He started to open his mouth, but his brain failed him, "Uhhh…"

Cassie stopped and turned to look at him, "Say what's bothering you."

Xander could have slapped himself. He kept forgetting that Cassie was not only a soldier, but an officer and a fighter pilot rather than just some "normal" girl. He let out a small sigh, "Sorry, brain cramp…"

"Well you should think of your words first before you speak." she said with a smirk.

"You disrespecting me…the Xan Man?! I won't stand here and be disrespected!" he said raising his voice in mock indignation.

Cassie moved closer and put her arms around his neck. As they moved closer together, Xander could feel the heat from her body. He looked down and saw the smirk still on her face along with something else.

"I would never think of disrespecting you." Cassie said as she stood up on her toes and pulled him closer to her, kissing him long and passionately.

The kiss lasted for what seemed forever to Xander, but then Cassie slowly pulled away and he could feel slight disappointment growing inside him.

"Tell me what's bothering you?" Cassie said in a low whisper as she looked into his face and good eye.

It took him a long moment to regain his senses as parts of his body other than his brain had dibs on his blood supply, but he finally regained some semblance of control.

"We…Giles, Buffy and I are worried about the Captain and what happened with Faith."

Cassie slowly moved away from him and let out a small sigh, "Yeah, I know what you're talking about. I talked to Faith after the match and she laughed it off, but I caught a glimpse of the Captain's face and he was in full 'Coleiro Fury' mode."

Xander looked at her in surprise, "He gets like that all the time?"

Cassie shook her head, "I've seen glimpses…" she said recalling her debriefing, "…but I've heard stories about his temper. Most of them are really old stories. One of my instructors at the academy, knew the Captain from way back. He mentioned once in an off-handed comment that half the stories and rumors don't even begin to tell the whole story."

"Sounds like quite the character?"

"Yeah…"

"Yeah, and then there's that but." he said seeing a worried look flash across her face.

"I was there, Xander...he was going to kill her."

"I know."

"But he didn't…"

"I know that too."

"So what do we do?"

Xander let out a sigh as he heard a small voice in the back of his head saying that what they were talking about could be considered an act of mutiny.

_Oh well, I already look like a pirate…_

"For now, we just keep an eye on the Captain and if things get worse…" he left the rest unsaid.

Cassie nodded, thankful that Xander hadn't finished the sentence as she could hardly contemplate what they were talking about. She took his hand and squeezed it tightly, receiving a return squeeze and they continued walking towards the hanger bay.

**oOoOo**

Paul had an uncharacteristically happy smile on his face as he entered the main hanger deck. He didn't realize he had the smile on his face until he heard a familiar voice catching him off-guard.

"What's got you so happy today?"

"Don't know what you're talking about Chief… I would also like to remind you of rank protocol when addressing a superior officer." Paul said still smiling as he turned and faced the Chief.

Chief Larson could see that the Captain was yanking her chain, but now she was really curious about why he was in such a good mood, "I'll repeat my question… What's got you in such a good mood…Sir?" she said this time emphasising the "Sir" with a little mocking tone in her voice.

Paul snorted at the Chief, she was the only one he would allow to make fun of him. There had been Sonia, she would make fun of how serious he would get at times and would always be bugging him to lighten up and try not to take everything so serious. A quick image of Faith flashed through his thoughts and how she called him "Captain Crunch". He wasn't familiar with the social context or usage, but it evidently meant something to her. At the thought of Faith, his smile got bigger and he noticed the Chief again studying him strangely.

"What?" he asked.

"Just checking to make sure it's you Captain… I heard about your little 'tussle' in the gym. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Chief… just a few bumps and bruises. No problems."

"Uh-huh… How's the shoulder?"

Paul sighed as he realized that the Chief had watched the fight as had the rest of the ship, "Okay, it still hurts…a bit. It felt like she almost pulled it out of its socket."

Larson gave him the look he was used to seeing that she was concerned and worried about him.

"What?!"

"Just find it surprising that you survived that match. You haven't done any fighting in the ring for years and you just jumped in there with no hesitation."

"I'm not that old and out of shape…yet, Chief!"

Larson smirked and gave him a shrug, but then the smirk faded again to a worried look, "Sir, are you sure you're alright?"

Paul considered the question for a moment. Surprisingly he was in a good mood and feeling pretty good despite his aches and pains and the situation they were in. His anger and rage were quiet and he tried not to laugh out loud as he realized that he was actually feeling somewhat optimistic.

"I'm okay Chief…honest." he said with a grin.

Rachel studied him closely and was honestly surprised to see him in an honest to goodness real good mood. She had just caught the last part of the fight being broadcast and she had frozen in fear and worry when she'd caught a glimpse of his face at the end of the fight. She'd seen that look before and it was one she'd always been scared of. When he was in full rage mode, it took someone dying to bring him out of it and she had let out a huge sigh of relief when he'd stepped away. She hadn't known what had transpired in those moments, but it didn't matter as long as no blood had been spilt or anyone had died.

The Chief now found herself curious about this Faith as it was fairly obvious that she'd seemed to have made an impression on the Captain. Along with her curiosity, she suddenly felt a wave of cautious protectiveness for him. She was happy to see him in a good mood, but she had always worried about him, ever since she'd found out whose son he was. Memories came back and she found herself comparing her friend to another person she'd known that was long dead.

_I was so damn young back then_, she thought as she recalled the memory of a father bringing his young son down to the hanger deck on the SDF-1 during those rare times between alerts and battles and putting the young boy in the cockpit of his Veritech. She looked at the man that was now her closest friend. Yet for all the years and things they had shared and gone through together, there were some aspects and parts of his life that he'd never shared or discussed.

_There was only one person he'd ever opened up to…_

"So I heard that she was pretty tough… She dropped Sergeant Bronowski with hardly any effort and he's pretty good…almost as good as you." Larson said studying the Captain for a reaction.

"Yeah… she's stronger than she looks and she's got fast reflexes...really fast."

"Guess you're not over the hill yet… Captain." Larson said with a snort.

Paul tried to glare down the Chief, but all they did was laugh.

"I guess I've still got a few years left… and I guess you'll be stuck with me."

Larson feigned her distress at this news, by exaggeratingly holding her hand to her forehead, "Oh heavens…whatever shall I do?"

"Okay Chief…enough of the fun and games at my personal expense. What's the status on the drones?"

Larson's face changed to take on a more serious look as they moved on to more important issues, "The recovery crews found and brought in thirty-five of those new fancy Shadow Drone fighters… I checked out a couple and the weapons and power systems look to be intact along with the airframes…"

"But…?" Paul asked as he could hear the tone in Larson's voice and knew that she had bad news.

"It looks like the AI systems are completely fried…"

Paul sighed as he took in the Chief's news, "Can we fix them?"

"We'll have to pull the whole module…luckily we've got spares. We'll have to put the replacement modules in and then power up the system and download the OS and run them through their startup initialization. Once that's done, I can check the rest of the ship's systems and find out if they'll fly again."

"How long?"

"I've already got one started on to get an idea of what we're dealing with, but we're looking at least a couple hours per plane just for the AI modules. They're a bitch to get to and remove." Larson replied with a sigh.

"How are you on bodies to help?" Paul asked.

"Got myself and a mix bag of techs. That Lieutenant Evans you pulled off the planet is already down here…"

"You put her to work?"

"You betcha Cap. She even brought a friend." Larson said with a snort.

"Was that friend tall dark and wearing an eye-patch?"

Larson let out a laugh, "Yeah… I swear I thought I heard violins and could smell the roses the way those two were looking at each other and hand holding."

"Never knew you were the romantic type Chief." Paul said with a laugh.

"Sir… there are a lot of things you never knew about me." she replied with her own laugh.

"If I remember my history correctly… I did make an offer to get to know you years ago." Paul said with a smirk recalling the first time he'd met the Chief and how she'd sent him crashing and burning.

Larson laughed again, "Sir…with all due respects, if I had accepted your offer I don't think we would be friends now…"

Paul nodded as he heard the Chief's words of wisdom knowing that she was right and he valued her friendship more than what he would have gotten from a fling.

A sly smile came to Larson's face and she leaned in close to whisper into the Captain's ear, "…besides if we'd slept together… I would have broken you and ruined you for all other women!"

Paul was caught off-guard by the Chief and couldn't help himself as he gulped as he looked into Larson's eyes and knew that she was probably right. He took a deep breath as the Chief moved away from him and regathered his thoughts.

"Is Mister Harris getting in the way?" he asked finally recovering.

"Nah… He asked if he could help and after I showed him what to do, I put him to work. Actually he's pretty good at it…a natural with good hands."

Paul nodded at hearing that they had an extra body that could help as he walked with the Chief towards one of the drone fighters to start work on.

**oOoOo**

Faith looked at the food in the tray in front of her. It looked good, but she absentmindedly picked at it, taking an occasional bite. Her mind was preoccupied with other thoughts and feelings that pushed thoughts of hunger to the side. Actually she found herself in a hungry mood, but it wasn't for food.

She replayed her encounter with the Captain over in her mind as she continued to pick at her food. She found herself not only feeling more confused, but as she went over what had happened and been said, she found her imagination going into more erotic and X-rated territory. She remembered how she'd felt and the little voice that screamed inside her head when he'd been close to her. After leaving his cabin, she had continued on her walk, but she found herself even more restless and antsy than before. She knew only a couple of things that could settle her down. She couldn't smoke on the ship, so she was trying to use food as the only other thing that could relax her was the one she was trying hard not to think about at the moment.

Even the food was failing to relax her as she sat there staring off into space. She had no explanation for it or at least none that she would care to admit to herself. As she thought about the Captain, she felt even more worked up, which she found strange as she'd never gotten this worked up about a guy before. She found herself eying some of the crew members in the cafeteria and caught a glimpse of Anya and the soldier she'd fought before the Captain, grabbing some food and talking and laughing. She let out a sigh trying to make sense of what she was feeling. She had a brief thought of going and banging on Robin's door and seeing if he wanted to go another round, but she was hit by an uncharacteristic feeling of regret at that thought. She tried to deny the thought that was creeping into and growing in her mind that she didn't just want any man…she _wanted_ Captain Coleiro.

Her thoughts were interrupted and she was brought back to the moment as a voice spoke to her.

"Hey."

It took Faith a moment to refocus and she turned and looked at the person speaking to her, "Hey B… What's up?"

"Mind if I sit?" Buffy asked.

Faith shrugged and held her hand out to one of the empty chairs at the table.

Buffy pulled out the chair and sat down not hesitating and meeting her fellow Slayer's eyes, "You okay?"

Faith was a little surprised and taken aback at the question, "I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"I saw the fight you had with the Captain. I was surprised to see him take you down."

Faith smirked, "Thought I had him too. He surprised me as he's pretty fast and he had a couple of moves I hadn't seen before."

"I expected you to be more upset about losing."

Faith was caught by surprise by the question as she realized that other than the initial feeling at the time of losing, she wasn't upset anymore about losing to the Captain.

"It was only for fun…it wasn't like it was life or death out there." Faith said with a shrug as she downplayed what had actually happened.

Buffy paused as she tried to find the right words, "Faith, I saw the whole fight. You guys were pushing the boundaries out there. It looked like you guys were going at it for real especially when he had you pinned." she said with a worried look on her face.

Faith got a funny feeling from the tone in Buffy's voice, "Where you going with this B?"

Buffy paused again and leaned in to avoid anyone from overhearing them, "We're worried about the Captain. He could have killed you…hell, he would have killed you if he hadn't stopped at the last moment. I saw the look on his face."

Faith shook her head finding it surprising that she wanted to defend and explain for the Captain, "It was nothing…it was partly my fault too."

Buffy was caught by surprise, but she wasn't sure if it was because that Faith was defending the Captain or that she was taking some of the blame. She recovered and continued, "It's just a concern. Something is bothering him and the last thing we need is an unstable or crazed captain with access to nuclear weapons."

Faith got a sudden flash of anger at Buffy calling the Captain crazy and unstable and it surprised her. She took a deep breath to try and calm herself before she went and said something they would all regret, "Everything is copacetic. I went and talked to him and everything is cool between us. He even apologized to me."

Buffy's eyes widen in surprise at this revelation, "You…you went and talked to him?"

Faith felt a satisfactory triumphant feeling at getting one over Buffy, "Yeah, he felt bad about what had happened and I told him it was no sweat."

Buffy shook her head, "But he tried to kill you."

"He's not the first one to try." Faith said arching an eyebrow and giving Buffy a look.

Buffy found herself off balance as this wasn't the conversation that she'd expected. There was a moment of silence as she regained her balance, "Be that as it may, there's something definitely something going on with him and we should be careful."

Faith sighed understanding where Buffy was coming from, but she still felt protective about the Captain for some unknown reason, "Okay, I get the message. It shouldn't be hard for me to keep an eye on him."

Buffy gave her fellow Slayer a funny look, "What're you talking about?"

Faith got a knowing smile on her face, "Just that the Captain and I are meeting up later, when he's off duty. I asked him to show me those moves of his and he said yes."

"You…you and the Captain!?" Buffy said not believing what she was hearing.

Faith didn't say anything but smile at Buffy.

It took another long moment for Buffy to recover before she could speak.

"You may want to take it easy. We're guests on this ship." Buffy cautioned, finally able to speak.

Faith laughed out loud causing some of the people sitting nearby to look in her direction, "You afraid I'll break these people or their ship?"

"No… It's just that I know you. I just don't want you to go and do anything that might piss these people off, especially the Captain."

Faith again felt a flash of anger at the comment, "You implying something? Spit it out!"

Buffy sighed as she wished that Giles was here to back her up in this conversation, "Faith… Please don't sleep with the Captain. It could complicate the situation."

Faith closed her eyes and counted to ten and took a deep breath as she let go of the anger. She knew her feelings and what a part of her wanted, but she also knew her history with men and Buffy did have a point. She briefly considered telling Buffy her feelings, but she could tell by the look on her face that she wasn't going to get much sympathy or support from that direction. She decided to keep it to herself and deal with it on her own.

"Relax B… If anything was going to happen it would have happened when I stopped by his room earlier… I walked in and found him just out of the shower wearing only a towel" she said with a grin growing on her face as she recalled the memory.

"You…You found him what?! Wearing what?!" Buffy sputtered out.

Faith was enjoying seeing her fellow Slayer off balance, "Yeah…it was quite the view. He's got quite the body for an older guy, but it was all no-sex. We just talked, so you can unbunch your panties and stop worrying about it."

Buffy actually felt a brief wave of jealousy as she remembered how she felt when she first met the Captain. Even being worried about his behavior, she found herself having to admit it was pretty impressive that he could stand up to a Slayer in a fight. She rolled her eyes while sighing, "Please…tell me you didn't do or say anything dumb?"

Faith felt a little insulted at the shot, but a part of her realized that she did have a point about her saying and doing the wrong thing at the wrong time, "Like I said…relax, everything is okay between me and Captain Crunch."

A horrified look came over Buffy's face, "Tell me you didn't call him that name to his face?"

Faith snorted as another smile came to her face, "It's funny they mustn't have that cereal where they come from… I always liked that cereal, especially on Saturday mornings watching cartoons when I was a kid. Must have been his hat."

Buffy looked at Faith with some disbelief, but then she couldn't help herself as a visual image started to form in her mind. A smile formed at the image in her head and she started laughing.

**oOoOo**

Xander wiped the sweat from his face to keep it out of his one good eye. He could feel the sweat running into his dead eye, but he was already used to the pain and it didn't slow his work. He could feel his shirt sticking to him, but it was a good sweat. He was feeling good and useful with the added bonus that he was — sort of — spending time with Cassie.

He was still having a hard time believing that he was actually working on fighter planes that flew in space and could transform into huge robots. His inner child was still squealing inside him at the thought of being this close to something he'd dreamed and imagined about as a kid. He'd been a little intimidated, at first, when he had come down to the hanger deck with Cassie. He'd expected to just sit around watching her work and trying not to get in the way or break anything. That had changed quickly when he'd met Chief Larson. The Chief was not what he'd expected as someone that was in charge of taking care of the fighters on this ship. She was an older woman, but she was still good looking, very much in the way that Joyce Summers had been.

Xander had watched what he'd said around the Chief as he detected that she was not one to suffer fools easily and wouldn't take any shit from anyone. He'd been taken off-guard when the Chief had put him to work as she didn't want people standing around her hanger bay doing nothing…she got enough of that from the pilots as she put it. He couldn't help smiling even though Cassie turned a little red at the Chief's outburst. He was a little surprised of how Cassie deferred to the Chief even though she outranked her.

Cassie explained, during a brief break, that Chief Larson was god-in-charge on the fighter deck and she was a veteran from the First Robotech War, having served on the SDF-1 and had also served with Captain Coleiro for years. There were stories that circulated about the Chief and her skills and toughness. When Cassie talked about Skull Squadron with Roy Fokker, Rick Hunter and Max Sterling, Xander didn't know who they were, but the obvious awe and admiration in her voice made it pretty evident that they were pretty important people. He made a mental note to do some research on these people when he had a chance as they were important to Cassie which made it important to him to know. He wanted to be able to share things with her…it had become important to him.

Xander took a moment to catch his breath. He was currently crawled up under a fighter — Chief Larson and Cassie had called them Shadow drone fighters — looking up at an open access panel to get to the electronic guts of the plane. He wasn't that familiar with planes or electronics, but the Chief had shown him what parts to look for. It was a little difficult to get at the plug-and-play modules, that needed to be pulled, but he found that he understood what was required and it seemed pretty straightforward. He found himself getting into a flow and he was so focused on his work that he only became aware of Cassie talking to him as she lightly kicked the bottom of his foot to get his attention.

"What's up?" he said turning his body to see Cassie bending down looking at him with that smile he'd come to enjoy seeing.

"You want to take a break and grab a drink?" she asked smiling and looking him over enjoying what she saw.

"I'm kind of in a groove here… I would hate to stop. Chief Larson might rip my head off." Xander said half joking.

"You're making us all look bad by how hard you're working. Plus it was also the Chief's idea…more like an order for us to take a break." she said with a laugh in her voice.

Xander arched an eyebrow in surprise at hearing that it was the Chief's idea as he'd half-expected her to work him until he was dead. A smile came to his face as he responded, "Be right out!"

Cassie stood up and backed away as Xander pulled himself out from under the drone fighter. As he stood up and brushed himself off, she again looked over this man still smiling. He was so different from anyone she'd known. He wasn't a fighter pilot or even in the military, but he was a fighter and a survivor. He'd suffered — losing his eye — but he still had a sense of humor and what was most important was that he still cared. He'd been fighting for years and seen lots of pain, suffering and death, it would have been so easy for him to cut-off his emotions and stop caring and hide from life. She'd seen a lot of the older REF veterans do that — Captain Coleiro — was a prime example. They had seen too much and they stopped feeling and caring in order to deal with it, but Xander was still full of life, hope…and love. It made her feel that there was something more than the endless war she faced against the Invid.

"What's on the menu?" Xander asked with a smile and twinkle in his one good eye.

Cassie held out her hand, which Xander didn't hesitate to take. She started to lead him across the hanger bay to a smaller bay that looked like a machine shop area. He could see a number of techs still working hard going over the fighters, checking the avionics and other systems.

"Well we've got water or soft drinks…your choice."

"I think I'll stick to water for now." he replied.

Xander had a smile on his face as he watched Cassie go grab some drinks. He watched her body as she walked away and still couldn't believe that such a hot young woman was a fighter pilot that flew in space. What was even more surprising to him was that she was spending time with him and not complaining about it.

He caught movement in the hanger bay and his gaze shifted. He was still surprised that Captain Coleiro was down in the hanger bay getting dirty and sweaty with everyone else. He expected the Captain of the ship to be on the bridge, but here he was crawling underneath the drones just like one of the little people. He recalled his earlier conversation of concern regarding the Captain and he was surprised, to say the least, to see that the Captain looked to be in a good mood. He seemed to be even friendlier and more cheerful than when they'd first met in the observation room. The Captain had even briefly joked with him which caught him and Cassie by surprise.

_For someone that we're worried about being unstable with access to nukes, he seems quite calm now. If he's crazy, he can sure put on an act_, Xander thought but he couldn't help but notice that Chief Larson seemed to be keeping an extra eye on the Captain.

His attention shifted back to more immediate things as Cassie returned with their drinks. He took the offered drink and savored the water as it went down his throat. He hadn't realized how thirsty he was. He watched Cassie gulp down her drink, "How long we been at this?" he asked as he'd lost track of time getting caught up in the work.

Cassie gave him a tired smile, "About six hours… The Chief did mention about letting us go grab some food and then some rack time."

A relieved tired smile spread across his face at the thought of food and rest, "Sounds good…you got any dinner plans?"

"You asking me on a date." she said with a coy smile.

Xander was about to give one of his witty retorts when he was distracted by someone walking across the hanger bay. He arched his eyebrow in surprise as he saw Faith walking across the hanger deck. What was even more surprising was that she was headed towards the Shadow Drone that Captain Coleiro was currently working on.

**oOoOo**

Faith found herself impressed and a little intimidated as she walked across the hanger bay. She'd tried, the last several hours, to keep herself distracted from her thoughts and feelings and from getting bored. She had left the cafeteria and continued exploring the ship. She found and checked some of the lounges and recreation rooms on the different decks. She'd finally had enough as she found her frustration growing and she wanted to know when the Captain was going to be finished whatever work he was doing. She recalled him saying that he was going to be on the main hanger deck doing some repair work. It took a couple of attempts but after batting her eye lashes and bending over somewhat suggestively, she was able to find a willing crewman to give her directions.

As she made her way across the hanger, she saw the fighters lined up in rows and she found herself staring at huge robot machines standing off to the sides of the bay — like soldiers standing at attention. She still found it hard to believe that planes could change into robots as she remembered how excited Willow had gotten when she had talked about the technology these people used. She remembered how the Captain came roaring in, shifting into some sort of techno-knight firing missiles, kicking ass and taking names.

She had seen the Captain crawl underneath one of the fighter planes as she entered the bay and she made a beeline for her objective. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Xander and Cassie, but she wasn't going to be sidetracked this time. She'd been more than patient, by her standards, but she wanted something…_anything_ other than to be stuck wandering the ship thinking and having to deal with her feelings.

She could see the Captain's feet sticking out from underneath the fighter as she got up close. Again, uncharacteristically, she found herself at a loss for words as she reached the plane. She stood there for a minute, looking at his feet, trying to figure out what to say when she heard him speak up.

"Chief, you got that replacement module?"

A small smirk formed on her face and she was about to respond when she was surprised by another voice behind her.

"Right here, sir…"

Faith spun to face the voice and found herself facing an older looking woman. She studied the woman and saw the older woman appraising her as well. The older woman had short brunette hair that despite was just starting to show some grey streaks, she still had a decent figure and looks. Her face was smeared with sweat, grease and dirt, but she wore it well like a badge of honor. The woman had an aura of toughness and experience and Faith immediately knew that this woman wouldn't be any easy pushover in a fight.

"Can I help you ma'am?" the older woman asked looking Faith up and down and evaluating her.

Faith was never one to back down from anything or anyone and she meet the woman's eyes not shrinking back, "The name's Faith… I stopped by to see the Cap'n." she said leaning her head slightly in the direction of the Captain's feet sticking out from underneath the fighter.

She was a little surprised to see a small smirk appear on the older woman's face.

"Captain… You might want to come out here." The older woman said in a loud voice.

"Huh? What's up? Paul said as he squirmed his way back out. As he got turned around, he saw two pairs of feet and when he looked up he saw that he had Chief Larson and Faith both looking down at him. They both had smirks on their faces and for a moment Paul was very self-conscious of himself and his surroundings. For a quick second, he was wondering if maybe his fly was down.

Chief Larson picked up on the Captain's discomfort, "It looks like you have a visitor, sir." she said with the smirk still on her face.

"Uh… Thanks Chief." Paul said as he stood up and brushed himself off and straightening his dirty and sweat stained uniform.

"Hi…" Paul said looking at Faith feeling a little confused and surprised to see her on the hanger deck, but he also found that he was happy to see her again.

"Hey yourself… looks like you could use another shower." Faith said still smirking giving him the once over.

Paul scratched his head with a grin coming to his face, "Yeah… this is pretty dirty work."

"I like dirty…" she replied in a low voice with a coy smile, which caught her by surprise as it hadn't been what she had wanted to say. She tried not to laugh as she could easily see by the look on his face that she'd caught him off-guard.

Chief Larson watched the exchange and was shaking her head at seeing this Faith put the Captain back on his heels.

_He must be really out of practice…there was a time he would've given back without batting an eyelash_, she thought as she again looked over Faith. She was definitely getting a third wheel vibe from these two.

"Ahem…" Larson said catching Paul and Faith both by surprise.

Paul looked at the Chief strangely for a moment and then the realization sunk in, "Uh…Sorry Chief. Faith…this is Chief Rachel Larson. Chief this is Faith."

Larson extended her dirty hand to the younger woman. Faith immediately picked up that the Chief was testing her. She didn't hesitate as she gripped the hand firmly, but holding back on her Slayer strength. She was a little surprised by the strength of the Chief's grip.

"Just Faith? No last name?" Larson asked curiously.

Faith got a crooked grin, "I gots a last name…never used it much except when the cops wanted it."

She saw that she scored a point as the Chief arched an eyebrow at her response.

"So Chief…what do you do on this tub?"

Paul winced as he saw that Faith was baiting the Chief and he decided to step in before it escalated any further, "Uh… Faith… Why are you here?"

Faith still had a smirk on her face as she turned back to face him, "It's been hours and I got a little bored and thought I would wander down here and see what you were doing. I was thinking we might still get in that practice you promised."

Paul saw the look of astonishment wash over Larson's face as she heard what Faith had said and he fought to keep a straight-face.

"We're still pretty busy… I don't—" he started to say.

Larson interrupted him, "It's okay, sir. We're pretty much done swapping out all the modules…we still have to load the OS and do the system re-initialization. I was sending people to go grab some food and rack time. It will be at least another twelve hours before the systems are back on-line that we can start doing system checks."

"Maybe I should stick around Chief. You never know—" Paul started to say.

"No…No… I insist that you and your 'friend' go on your date or whatever you had planned. I can finish up this one." Larson said with a big crooked grin plastered across her face.

Faith didn't hesitate or take offense to what Chief Larson had said as she jumped in and grabbed Paul's arm and started dragging him towards the hanger bay bulkhead door, "You heard the boss lady…you're not needed right now. Besides you did promise we would have a tumble."

Paul was going to argue that he had only promised to try and do a practice, but between Faith dragging him away and Chief Larson grinning and enjoying his predicament, he knew that he wasn't going to win. He shrugged half-heartedly in resignation knowing that it didn't matter what he said or did despite him being a Captain and in command of this ship. A half-smile came to his face as he realized that he was actually excited to be with Faith again, and he almost missed what Larson said in jest to them as they made their way to the bulkhead door.

"Have fun you two and make sure that the Captain is home before midnight…he needs his beauty sleep."

Paul was looking for a snappy comeback, but Faith beat him to the punch, "I'll make sure I tuck him in myself!" she said with a laugh causing him to recall how he'd felt with Faith back in his cabin.


	23. You wanna pick this up later?

*****Warning: Sexual Content in this Chapter*****

**CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE:**

**You wanna pick this up later?**

"…_My patient reported that he found the leaves while scrounging through the wreckage of a Zentraedi battelcruiser. He said that he was using the leaves to supplement his meager diet for at least the last six months... My patient still had a small sample of the leaves. I had never seen leaves like this before and not being able to recognize what plant they were from concerned me about any potential side-effects. I forwarded some to a botanist friend of mine. I was surprised and concerned to hear back from her that she was also unable to identify what plant these dried leaves had come from…_"

— Excerpt from private journal of Doctor (Lt. Cmdr.) Marcus Jacobs (Monument City, 2018)

**oOoOo**

"Sir, if I may speak freely?"

The SECDEF nodded to General Coulson.

"This plan is insane! We don't know their full capabilities, but we know they're more advanced than us and yet we're going ahead with this?!"

The SECDEF sighed, "General…the VP, the Joint Chiefs and the National Security Advisor along with a few others have managed to convince the President that the 'object' in orbit around our moon is a 'Clear and Present Danger' to this country and by extension this planet. He has given his approval for this operation and has managed to convince the Russians to provide the heavy payload lifter needed. Our craft and its weapons loadout is already onsite at the Baikonur Cosmodrome and mated to their launch vehicle. Our launch window is scheduled to take place in less than two hours and intercept is estimated to take place in roughly fifteen hours."

"But, sir. This will blow back in our faces…with god knows what repercussions for us and the planet!"

The SECDEF gave the General a hard look, "General, the decision has been made and our Commander-in-Chief has given the order. Whether I agree with this mission or not is now moot."

"Sir, I know that the Chiefs were calling on you to resign, but still—"

The SECDEF cut-off Coulson, "General, whatever the JCS's want is irrelevant. I still, for now, enjoy the support of the President and he was presented with what is our only plan to conduct an offensive strike against this unknown force that threatens us."

"Sir, it's a suicide mission for that shuttle crew. I know the Chairman of the JCS, he's pissed that his precious new F-22's got handed their asses. He's thinking out of anger and pride and not giving this any rational thought."

"General…our airspace was violated, our defense systems and communications were compromised and our soldiers fired on. I think that the Chairman has a valid argument."

"Sir, this 'unknown force' went out of their way to try and not kill our pilots, when they could have. That has to count for something?"

"The Chairman doesn't think highly of our visitors. As he put it during the presentation, 'They don't have the guts to finish what they started' and he was supported by others including the VP."

Coulson looked at the SECDEF with an incredulous look, "Jesus…tell me that the President didn't buy that argument."

The SECDEF sighed deeply replaying the private conversation he had with the President, "No…he doesn't buy it, but he's under a huge amount of pressure. The Hill along with the press are all screaming for answers to know what happened and what he's going to do. We're just barely keeping a lid on this and it's only a matter of time before it leaks that we had 'aliens' land on Earth and make a joke of our defensive systems. The panic will be…"

Coulson sighed, "I understand, sir. Is there anything I can do to help?"

The SECDEF didn't even hesitate to think, "I want you in the situation room with me during the final phase of this operation. I want you on hand _when_ this operation goes sideways and we need other options."

**oOoOo**

Paul managed to extricate himself out of Faith's grip once they were out of the hanger bay. It wouldn't be good for the crew to see their Captain being dragged around by a civilian. They walked together down the ship's corridor, neither one of them knew what to say with the tension thick between them. The silence was still hanging between them as they got on the ship's elevator until Faith saw the Captain press a number for a different deck rather than the one with the gymnasium on it

"Where do you think you're going?" Faith asked as she reached across him and pressed the button for the deck that she wanted to go to.

"Uh… I thought I would wipe some of the dirt and sweat away and change into something more appropriate for training."

"You look fine with what you got on…" Faith said with a leering eye as she looked him up and down remembering how his body looked when he was just wearing that towel.

"…besides I've already got my training clothes on." she added.

Paul couldn't help himself as his eyes took in the tight pants she was wearing showing off her curves. He felt his heart beat and pulse quicken as his mind wandered.

There was no one in the gym when they got there as they made their way over to the training area where they had fought earlier. Paul watched as Faith took off her jacket revealing the tight low-cut tank top she was wearing. He shook his head as he was surprised that he hadn't noticed her tight revealing clothing from the last time they fought, but he was sure noticing it now and finding himself distracted.

He moved to an area of the mat trying to regain his focus and started to do some stretches. He was surprised when he heard a snort of laughter.

"Whatcha doing?"

"I thought I would stretch. You know loosen the muscles before we begin. You might want to do the same." Paul replied somewhat puzzled.

Faith had a smirk on her face, "I'm a Slayer. We don't need to stretch. We're built limber and flexible."

Paul knew what she was capable of and that she was a lot stronger and faster than she looked. He knew it was mostly luck — and his anger — that allowed him to get the best of her earlier.

"Be that as it may… I'm not a Slayer. I'm just an aging fighter pilot and I would like to at least do some stretching to work out the kinks. Plus I have been working you know."

He didn't add that he was still feeling the effects from their last fight as his shoulder still suffered with a dull throb with an occasional sharp stabbing pain thrown in to remind him of it.

"Maybe I should call you Gramps rather than Captain Crunch?' she said with the smirk firmly planted in place.

Paul smiled as he snorted while shaking his head in amusement at how she was trash talking him. He did some quick stretches while Faith stood there watching him with an amused look on her face.

"Okay where do you want to start?"

"How about you show me some of those punch blocks you did…they were pretty effective." she said.

The two of them faced off against each other and Paul walked through slowly having her throw mock punches and how to react and deflect the blow. After showing her several times, he had her show him the move going through it several times slowly and then speeding it up faster and faster. He was deeply impressed by how fast she picked up the move. After going through it several times, she had almost mastered it to a level it had taken him years to perfect.

"Okay…I'm impressed and a little bit intimidated." Paul said half-jokingly.

Faith smiled at the complement, "Thanks… What's next Yoda?"

He looked at her a little confused at the reference.

"Sorry…you probably never saw that movie."

Paul shook his head and rolled his eyes which caused Faith to laugh out loud and a smile come to her face. He couldn't help himself get drawn into her smile and the twinkle in her eyes.

There was another long awkward moment of silence as they stood in the training area.

"How about that Bruce Lee leg sweep move you used on me…never seen a move like that before." she asked breaking the awkward silence. She wanted to continue on with the lessons.

Paul nodded and walked her through the movements slowly again and then sped it up gradually. Again it wasn't long before she was picking up the move and becoming more proficient.

"That's pretty scary how quickly you pick things up." He said shaking his head in disbelief and amazement as he watched her make the moves like an expert.

"Another benefit of being a Slayer. You ready to have another go?" Faith said with a smirk.

Paul was now a little hesitant as he'd actually shown her his best moves and counters and she'd become very good at them…really fast.

"Uhhh… Maybe we should take a break."

"Com'on Captain Gramps… We'll even go slow. I just wanna make sure that I've picked up everything."

Paul sighed reluctantly as he knew that this was going to happen whether he wanted it to or not.

They once again squared off against each other in the center of the mat. They both circled slowly, eyeing each other…looking for a weak spot. This time it was different for him as he studied Faith's movements. He didn't have the same anger in him this time to use to his advantage. Despite that, he still decided to take the initiative. He lunged in and she reacted easily blocking his punch. She smiled as she countered his blow catching him in the torso causing him to stagger. Paul regained his balance and faced her. He knew he was going to lose, but he wasn't going to make it easy for her. He faked left and moved right, she was caught off balance, but she quickly recovered and blocked his blow and counter-stroked before he realized it.

The next thing Paul knew he was lying on his back with the wind knocked out of him. Before he could recover, Faith was straddling his chest pinning him to the mat. All he could do was try to use his hands to grapple and push her off of him, but her strength pinned his arms to the ground.

Paul was in an unexpected and unaccustomed position. He looked up as Faith leaned in close as she pinned him to the mat. He saw the look of triumph on her face as she quickly caught her breath. He suddenly became aware of how close she was leaning in, feeling the heat from her body. He found himself hyper-aware of her and himself in that moment.

"I guess you win…" Paul said as he recovered his breath.

"Yeah… I guess I did." Faith said smiling.

Time seemed to stop as they both looked deeply into each other's eyes. Paul could feel his heart beating faster and harder. He found himself unsure of what he should do next.

Faith looked down at the Captain filled with a sense of victory. She'd gotten her revenge, but as she straddled him, she could feel the heat from his body as she found herself looking deep into his dark eyes and feeling herself getting pulled into them. She could feel the hunger inside her grow and she knew what she wanted, but for a moment she surprisingly hesitated as if a part of her was telling her not to cross this line. She felt her body shiver slightly and could feel her heart beat faster as she looked into his eyes. She pushed any doubts aside as she could feel that she _wanted_ to cross that line as she leaned in slowly and kissed him.

The kisses were at first gentle, but then they quickly picked up in intensity as they became harder and more passionate. Faith finally released the Captain's hands and he wrapped them around her body as she continued to straddle him.

Paul ran his hands up and down her body. He was a little rusty, but his body quickly remembered as he kissed her and felt her body against his and he quickly got back into the swing of things. He was used to being the one controlling the tempo and how this went, but he found that he liked Faith taking charge as they explored each other's bodies with their hands while they continued to kiss.

Paul felt his body responding to the situation and Faith felt it too and she responded by grinding herself into him. The kissing was becoming even more intense and Paul started moving up and down her neck kissing and tasting her. His hands moved down and cupped her butt, squeezing it and getting a soft surprising moan in response from her. He could feel her breasts pressed against his chest. He wanted her badly. He spun Faith quickly, which she didn't resist, so that she was now on her back and he was on top. He pressed harder into her as she let out another soft moan of pleasure.

He would have taken her right then and there, if it hadn't been for the ship's intercom systems suddenly calling his name. It took several moments for him to realize that it was his name being called. He saw the look of disappointment on Faith's face as he slowly pulled away.

"Ignore it!" she panted as it was obvious she was ready and wanted to go further.

Paul felt a part of him telling him to ignore the call and take her and be inside her and feel her, but he knew that he had responsibilities and duties that he couldn't ignore.

"I can't…" he said with the disappointment obvious in his voice.

He stood up slowly and took a moment to gather his balance and composure as the blood ran back to his head. He made his way over to the com panel on the wall and called the bridge.

Faith couldn't even begin to describe the disappointment she felt as she watched the Captain take the call from the bridge. She had been ready to ride him right then and there. She could still feel the heat of his body and her earlier itch and desire had grown into a fire. She saw him come back over to her and she could tell by the look on his face that he was going to have to leave.

"You have to go…don't you?"

"Yeah… They need me down in Engineering."

"Anything serious?"

"Nothing major, but they need me down there."

"You wanna pick this up later?" she asked hopefully.

A huge smile came to Paul's face, "Damn rights I do!" as he moved quickly to her and grabbed her up in his arms, kissing her long and passionately and getting an equally impassioned response from her. They finally pulled away from each other reluctantly.

"Catch you later Captain Crunch." Faith said with a lusty smile as Paul turned to leave.

He turned back and gave her an equally lustful smile, "You can call me Paul if you want to."

She laughed as she'd never known the Captain's first name until now, "I don't know…I kinda like Captain Crunch."

"I may have to spank you." he said half-jokingly as he turned to leave again.

"We'll work up to that and maybe a little bit more." Faith replied laughing causing Paul to shake his head but smile at her lustily as he left the gym for Engineering.

**oOoOo**

_"Mission Control…this is STS-115. We are at full burn and are in the track. We have achieved escape velocity. Do you copy?"_

_"We read you Atlantis… You look good here. Confirmed engines at 100 percent. Maintain for another two minutes and adjust for targeted heading."_

_"Do we have confirmation that target is still holding at last position?"_

_"That's affirmative, Atlantis. Hubble and DSCS-5 confirm that target is still holding position."_

_"Any indication that the target is aware of our launch?"_

_"We're picking up no ECOM or any other indication that you have been detected."_

_"We estimate that we will be within firing range in twelve point five hours. Confirm?"_

_"That's confirmed, Atlantis."_

Captain Megan Blair, was listening in to the conversation between the shuttle's command crew and mission control. She let out a sigh of relief as she was pushed back into her seat by the heavy g-forces as the shuttle, she was a passenger on, roared higher doing something that it had never been designed to do — escape Earth's gravity and head into space.

She was still having problems dealing and coming to grips with her situation. She'd been caught off guard when she suddenly received orders, several days ago, to report to Edwards Air Force base and upon getting there being hurriedly hustled aboard a C-17 transport plane. The next thing she knew, she was stepping off the plane in Kazakhstan. She was still at a loss to understand what she was doing there. Before she could get her breath, she was being hustled into a high security briefing and being informed that "aliens" had arrived and had "attacked" the United States. Being in the Air Force, she'd naturally been aware of the recent outages and problems across the US, but she was merely a weapons specialist and not a pilot and didn't realize the true reasons behind the communications and radar problems across the country.

As the Air Force General doing the briefing informed her and the others in attendance, the aliens seemed to holding back using the moon to shield their presence, time seemed to freeze as Megan realized why she was here. The sudden realization hit her hard. She wasn't afraid as pushing her limits was one of the reasons she'd joined the Air Force after college, but this was beyond anything that she'd expected or even dreamed about.

Now she found that she was still trying to reconcile, with the fact that she was actually heading off to attack aliens by the moon on a space shuttle that was carrying eight 200kt fusion warheads mounted on the same number of AGM-69 short-range attack missiles.

**oOoOo**

Buffy had just decided to turn in, when a knock on her cabin door caught her by surprise. She was wondering who it could be as she quickly went through the list of possibilities in her head.

She wasn't that surprised to find Willow standing at her door, but what did surprise her was the worried look on her face.

Willow didn't even wait for Buffy to ask her in as she quickly walked pass her and started pacing around the room. Buffy got worried seeing her friend in this state.

"Will, what's wrong?"

Buffy saw how agitated Willow looked as she was mumbling to herself now as she continued pacing and her alarm grew.

"Willow, tell me what's going on?!" Buffy said this time stopping Willow in mid-pace and getting her to look at her. The look on Willow's face caused Buffy to fear for the worse.

Willow sighed as she managed to get herself under control, "We've got a problem…it's about Dawn."

**oOoOo**

Paul could feel his ass dragging as he made his way to his cabin. He'd paused at one point as he found his thoughts drifting to what Faith could be doing at this moment. His mind replayed the intense encounter they'd had in the gymnasium and was surprised to find his tired body responding, wanting more. He sighed as he checked the time, shaking his head seeing how late it was.

_Maybe it's better this way_, he thought as he recalled the hunger he felt with Faith. He found himself surprised and a little scared of his feelings towards her. He tried to brush it off to him not having been with anyone in a long time and that he was just plain out and out horny, but there was something there that he couldn't…_didn't_ want to admit to. If he admitted the possibility of what he was feeling that would start him down a path he'd been down before and that just lead to pain and grief in the end.

He pushed his thoughts and feelings about Faith down for the moment by going over his meeting in Engineering with Commander Schmidt. The Commander reported that he was still getting anomalous readings from the space-fold system and still had no explanation for it. He expressed his confidence that they could execute a space-fold with no problems, if they needed to. What he was more concerned about was something else he'd discovered.

The Commander had a worried and confused look on his face as he briefed Paul on what he'd discovered while trying to gather more information on what had happened to them and trying to find a way back. Schmidt reported that with the sensors coming back on-line, he was using them to scan the area of space where they'd transitioned into this dimension. He was detecting an electromagnetic spectrum wave frequency in that area of space and had scanned as far as he could plotting the affected area. What was worrying the Commander was that the affected area appeared to be expanding albeit slowly at a small rate. He was comparing the area affected to the limited data they had on the shape and size of the space-fold field that had been created when they arrived. The wave seemed to be — for now — staying within the perimeter of that space-fold field and Schmidt had no explanation for what was causing this and what the effect would be. He stressed the importance of getting the repairs completed ASAP on all the sensors, so they could keep monitoring this anomaly.

There was one other thing that Schmidt had found, but he wasn't as concerned about this one. While calibrating the limited scanners, he had available, he had scanned the Arcadia and was surprised to pick-up a strange energy wave pattern. The signal was so faint that it barely registered on the scanners, but it was there and it was definitely coming from inside the ship. The Commander thought that maybe it was a fault in one of the power conduits related to the space-fold drive issue. The Commander assured him they would do a more detailed trace to nail down the location and get it repaired, but it was still a mystery as everything appeared green on his board with no apparent issues and the pattern was one he didn't recognize and had no immediate explanation for.

Paul opened the door and as he entered his darken quarters, his combat instincts kicked in. Before he could do anything the bedside light flipped on and he spun, surprised to see Faith lying in his bed giving him a big smile. Before he could say anything she answered his forming question.

"You should really lock your door better or maybe get a stronger lock." she said with a knowing smirk.

Paul shook his head slowly, but a smile came to his tired face. He could feel his pulse start to get quicker as he looked at Faith stretched out across his bed.

"If I'd known you wanted to wait for me, I could have just given you access." he said with a smirk.

He watched as Faith moved in a graceful way — like a predator moving just before it struck for the kill — getting off the bed in one smooth movement, coming up to him. He could feel his heart start to beat harder as she got closer. He could swear he could feel the heat radiating off her body. He was surprised and pleased to find his tiredness slipping away as his body responded. He suddenly felt a deep hunger that he had no rational explanation for.

He was caught off-guard as she suddenly pushed him hard backwards against the cabin wall. He didn't resist as she tore at his uniform exposing his chest. He replied by pulling her close to him, her breasts pressing against his chest. She pulled his head closer and they started kissing long and hard. After what felt like an eternity, they parted and Faith smiled looking into Paul's eyes.

"I'm not waiting anymore…" she said as they kissed again. They started pulling at each other's clothes to get them off as they moved/stumbled their way to the bed.

**oOoOo**

Corporal Elliot Nakano had the late night security shift. He didn't mind being on the night shift as it was usually quiet unless the ship was at alert or combat condition. This gave him extra time to engage in his hobby of reading old books.

He was engrossed in "A Tale of Two Cities", it was one of his favorites as he'd already read it twice before.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…" he mumbled as he read, turning the pages slowly. He was suddenly pulled out of Revolutionary France, by his communication panel flashing. He sighed as he closed the book and put it down and answered the call.

"Security…Corporal Nakano here."

"Corporal Nakano this is Ensign Connors on the bridge."

"Yes, ma'am!"

"We've gotten reports of a disturbance on Deck Six. Something about yelling and screaming, we need you to check it out.

"Yes ma'am! We're on it!"

**oOoOo**

Faith felt as every nerve in her body was on fire. She was no novice to sex, but this was something at a whole new level she was experiencing. Normally she was the one on top…guiding and controlling the pace and rhythm, but at this moment, as she felt him inside her, she wanted…she _needed_ Paul to be the one in control. She could feel her body responding, but it was as if she had no control over it anymore as she kept moaning loudly in pleasure. A part of her didn't know how much more she could take, but the rest of her body and soul didn't care as it lost itself in the waves of pleasure that flowed through her.

Paul had no explanation for what he was experiencing. He found his body feeding off of Faith's pleasure as she moved and moaned under him, tapping into reservoirs of energy that he never knew even existed. He looked at Faith's face and could see it twisted in what looked like a mixture of pain and pleasure. He didn't want to hurt her, but he didn't…_couldn't_ stop now even if he wanted to. It felt as if he was leaving his body and he could feel himself building up. He knew he was close. He managed to whisper her name between heavy breaths.

Faith knew that he was close as his body increased its rhythm and she found herself moaning louder losing herself, if that was possible, even more to the pleasure. Her eyes were closed as she could feel herself building up for another intense orgasm. Suddenly she heard her name being whispered but it sounded like thunder in her ears and her eyes popped open. She blinked and focused on Paul's eyes and let out a gasp as she couldn't believe what she was looking into. His eyes had completely turned a deep dark purple with no white showing. She felt herself getting lost in his eyes, feeling no fear. Staring into those eyes, she saw a beauty in there that was beyond words to describe as she felt her soul being pulled in. She felt as she was being shown some great truth or secret as she rode another orgasm.

Time froze as he looked into her eyes and then suddenly it was there in his mind. He saw a blue and white world, he recognized it as his Earth. The image of home was then transposed with Faith's face, her eyes locked on his as she let out deep hard breaths between moans of pleasure. Then the image came alive, as what looked like a huge column of pure blinding energy erupted from the surface of the planet climbing higher and higher into space. At its apex, it suddenly transformed, becoming a huge bird…a phoenix of pure energy, extending its wings and soaring away. Paul couldn't recall ever seeing anything as beautiful as the image of this phoenix and Faith's face mixed together. He felt tears in his eyes and then suddenly he was over the edge and felt his body release. He cried out, but his cries were drowned out by Faith's screams.

**oOoOo**

Corporal Nakano had just finished checking the crew quarters when he heard what he definitely recognized as a woman screaming. He quickly determined that the scream was coming from the Officer's Quarters area of the deck. He got a worried feeling as he knew that the Captain's quarters were on this deck and he signalled to his partner to follow him as they made their way quickly to check on the Captain's status first.

Nakano knocked on the Captain's cabin door and when he didn't get an immediate answer. He signalled for his partner to step back and provide him cover as he knocked on the door a second time. This time he called through the door as he knocked.

"Captain? This is Security. Are you alright?" Nakano asked worriedly as his hand slide down to his side ready to draw his side-arm.

Suddenly the door slide open and the Corporal and his partner were both surprised. Though Nakano wasn't sure if he was surprised by the door suddenly opening or the sight of the Captain standing in the doorway with only a bedsheet wrapped around him. Nakano blinked as he stared at the Captain…who was covered in a sheen of sweat, hair in a tussle and he wasn't sure, but he thought he saw scratch marks on his shoulders. The Corporal was brought back to the moment as the Captain spoke sounding like he was trying to catch his breath.

"Yes Corporal. What is it?"

Nakano was no prude or uneducated in the ways of the world, but he found himself speechless and it took him a moment to find his voice as his mind connected the dots, "Uh…ummmm, sir. We've had reports of a…ummm… a disturbance. We just wanted to make sure that...uh…you...I mean that everything is okay?"

Nakano was caught by surprise by another voice coming from behind the Captain.

"I would say that we're doing better than fine…wouldn't you Captain?" said the female voice.

Nakano blinked as a beautiful looking woman stepped out to stand beside the Captain. She was wearing the Captain's uniform jacket and nothing else. He gulped as he found his eyes wandering down her naked legs. His eyes moved back up to the jacket and he could tell that the jacket wasn't done up and all it would take was a moderate breeze to blow it open. He found himself blushing as the Captain spoke to him and found that he'd missed what his superior officer had said as his eyes and mind wandered.

"Ummm…sorry sir, I didn't hear what you said." the Corporal said apologetically as he managed to get his eyes to look at the Captain again. He couldn't help but notice that the Captain had a small knowing smile on his face.

"I said, the lady is right. We're doing fine and there are no problems here. You're dismissed, Corporal. Have a good night."

"Uh…yes, sir. Thank you, sir." Nakano stuttered out as he started to turn to leave. He was surprised to see the beautiful woman giving him a quick look over and getting a mischievous smile on her face. He couldn't help himself as he blushed again. He found himself puzzled and confused as the woman leaned in and whispered into the Captain's ears. He was trying really hard not to look down to see if his fly was open as the Captain got a huge smile looking at the woman saying, "You sure about that?"

The Corporal felt himself continuing to blush along with blood starting to rush to other parts of his body as the beautiful woman gave a sexy smile in reply while nodding. He was caught off guard as the Captain spoke again, "Hang on for a second, Corporal. I have a…uh…a request."

"Sir?"

"Ummm…I want you to hand over your security-cuffs."

"Sir?"

"You heard me Corporal. Handover the cuffs. I'll make sure you get a replacement pair."

There was a long moment of silence as Nakano and his partner couldn't believe what they'd walked into.

"Corporal!"

"Sir!" Nakano said quickly as his training kicked in.

"The cuffs!"

"Uh…yes, sir!" Nakano said as he reached for his security-cuffs and handed them over to the Captain.

"Thank you Corporal. Now you're both dismissed."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir," Nakano said adding absently, "Have a good night sir."

Nakano couldn't believe his Captain could get even a bigger smile, but there it was, "We will Corporal, we will…" the Captain said as he and the woman turned and went back into his cabin with the door closing quickly behind them.


	24. What the hell are they thinking?

*****Warning: Suggestive Sexual Content in this Chapter*****

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR:**

**What the hell are they thinking?**

"_…was reviewing the results_ _of the aptitude and physical fitness tests conducted on my patient. Considering his current physical condition, he displayed reflexes that were to say the least astonishing along with higher than average intelligence. I noted during my initial examination that the patient was defensive about being touched in certain ways and displayed higher than normal aggression and anger to being questioned about his time living on the streets. This would lead me to believe that patient has been either physically and/or sexually abused along with suffering from what I can determine is "Survivor's Guilt". My recommendation is for the patient to undergo psychotherapy to deal with these issues as I foresee a potential problem in terms of anger management…_"

— Excerpt from private journal of Doctor (Lt. Cmdr.) Marcus Jacobs (Monument City, 2018)

**oOoOo**

"Captain?"

Megan opened her eyes. She'd just closed them for a moment. She hadn't had much sleep in the last few days as she'd been busy with installing the weapons system in Atlantis's cargo bay. She was greeted by the sight of the shuttle's co-pilot, Navy Commander Lorne Hodge, giving her a small tired smirk.

"How you doing, Captain? You look a little green around the gills there.

"Not bad. Feeling a little queasy, but that shot they gave me before launch is keeping my dinner down for now." She said with her own tired smile.

"Yeah, the weightlessness will get you every time."

Megan looked at the Commander and could see the look of doubt in his eyes that she'd had to battle against almost her whole life. At first glance, most people considered her just a stereo-typical dumb blonde as she had the body and looks, but then they were surprised to find that there were actually brains behind the blonde too. She'd joined the Air Force to get away from those misconceptions, but even after getting her hair cut short, she was still treated as eye candy and it seemed as if every pilot that got within heat-seeking range was trying to lock-on to her. It wasn't that she hadn't used her looks to her advantage when it was needed, but other than the occasional hook-up to fill her needs, she was quite happy to spend her time losing herself in her work with the Air Force's weapons R&amp;D program.

"You had a question, Commander?"

"Yeah, Colonel Harper wanted me to get an update on our weapons systems."

"You could have just called over the com channel."

"Yeah, but I needed an excuse to get out of my seat and float around." Lorne said with a sheepish grin.

"Well, everything is green on my board, but then we've never really tested this system in a live environment."

Lorne looked at the console display in front of Megan, "I got just a preliminary briefing on this system before launch. Is it true it's based on the AGM-69 SRAM?"

"Yes, we designed an eight-round rotary launcher, based on the one used on the B-52, to fit in the shuttle bay and it can be raised and lowered for firing," Megan said with a smile as she warmed up on her subject of knowledge.

Lorne smirked, "Yeah, the Russians weren't too happy to find out that we had a missile launcher designed to fit in our shuttles."

Megan couldn't help herself as she flashed a smile. She'd been a part of those briefings when their Russian hosts found out about how easily the shuttles could be armed with nuclear weapons, "Yeah 'not happy' is understating their reaction to finding out about this. It took a lot of convincing that this was the only launcher built."

Lorne saw the look on the Captain's face and he wasn't sure if he believed that this was the only launcher built either. He suddenly got a concerned look on his face as thoughts raced through his head, "If I recall my specs, didn't the SRAM only have a range of 110 miles? We can't turn like a bomber to avoid the blast."

Megan shook her head, "You're not wrong, but we've made modifications to this system for use in space. The engine was rated for 200 kilometers in atmosphere, but with the modifications we've made and the lack of gravity and atmospheric drag, we've boosted the range to around 1000 kilometers on full engine burn that includes the ability to make one major maneuver to avoid any anti-missile systems…"

"Still sounds awfully close when you're talking about nukes, especially in space."

"The launcher itself fires the missile out at an accelerated speed faster than the shuttle and we can then initiate the engines remotely and the missiles can then increase their speed for the final attack phase. Taking into account our velocity, the launcher and then the engines kicking in, we can launch at just under 5000 kilometers and the missiles will probably reach at least Mach 50 on their final run at full burn."

Lorne let out a low whistle at hearing how fast the missiles were going to go.

"So what if these aliens have lasers and try to shoot down the missiles?" Lorne asked with a slightly condensing smile as he was still having a problem believing that such a good looking woman could know that much about nuclear weapons and weapons systems.

Megan held back her sigh, recognizing the look in the Commander's eyes, as she answered his question, "We don't have a clear idea on what the capabilities of this alien ship are, but my mission firing plan is to stagger launch our missiles and then initiate engine burns at different intervals to stagger our missiles to arrive spread-out at the target. I've also programmed two minor course corrections to bring the missiles in from different vectors. If we get lucky our missiles will approach from three sides and with the rubber coating on the missiles that should minimize their radar and heat profile enough to avoid or at least delay detection. Plus the guidance system is based on the one used on the AIM-120 AMRAAM, with fire and forget capability, so if the target attempts to evade the missiles should adjust. But then we don't need a direct hit when using a 200 kiloton fusion warhead with Tritium boost…do we?" she said batting her eyes at the Commander.

"Oh…" was all that Lorne could think of to say.

Megan smirked at seeing the Commander suddenly put off-balance. As she watched him turn to leave, she found that she needed to ask a question that had been bugging her since she'd been briefed on the mission details.

"Commander?"

Lorne turned back and looking into the face of the young Captain, whose short blonde hair and looks seemed to be more at home on the cover of a magazine than behind a weapons console with her finger on a nuclear trigger, "What is it Captain?"

"Sir, I've been doing the math and calculating our speed and trajectory and a couple of things..."

"Go ahead."

"At the velocity we're going, we have such a narrow window to hit that we can slingshot ourselves back around to get home…"

"And?"

"Our trajectory path will take us right through where the alien ship is and where our nukes will have detonated."

The Commander paused as he gave Megan a hard sad look. He took a moment as he saw the realization hit her, "What's your question, Captain?"

Megan took a deep breath as she got a grasp of what the stakes were, "No question, Commander. I just wanted to clarify the situation." she said trying not to show any feelings.

**oOoOo**

Paul groggily opened his eyes as he became aware of the alarm going off. He tried to focus as he slowly raised his head to look at the clock on his bedside table.

_5:30… God I hate 5:30…_

Images flashed through his mind. Some were hazy and he had a hard time grabbing on to them, others were so strong and intense that for a moment he didn't believe they were his. As he became more awake and aware of his surroundings, he became aware of Faith curled up next to him. She stirred slightly as the alarm continued to go off. More images came and a small smile formed on his face as he recalled their time together. He tried to move stealthy and not disturb her as he reached out and turned off the beeping alarm. He was slightly surprised when Faith stirred again and started to stretch her body with her eyes still closed.

"Why is it that all you army guys have to get up so damn early in the morning." she mumbled out tiredly as she continued stretching.

Paul smirked and shook his head as he became more awake. He was surprised to find that despite the lack of sleep and all the "activity" they had engaged in, he wasn't exhausted. He found himself looking forward to getting some coffee and breakfast, "First of all… I'm in the navy…not the army. And second, I'm commander of this ship and I'm expected to put in a full day's work."

Faith opened her eyes and smiled as she looked at him, "Don't you guys ever get a day-off?"

"You mean like a weekend or holiday?"

"Yeah, something like that."

Paul snorted as he thought about the question. There always seemed to be something that took up his time…either he was on a mission, training or doing administrative work for the squadron, "I can't remember the last time I took some time off."

"Maybe you should take today off? We could spend it in bed. We still have the handcuffs, even if they are broken." Faith said with a suggestive smirk and look in her eyes.

Paul felt his body stir and he seriously considered her suggestion, but there was still too much to do — there were still minor ship repairs and system checks that still needed to be done, training for the new air wing pilots and getting the drones back on-line.

"I can't…" he started to say and saw a look of disappointment on Faith's face.

"How about we catch an early dinner and we can go from there?" Paul suggested as a compromise.

Faith rolled her eyes, "I dunno… Maybe I might already have plans tonight with somebody else." she said teasingly as she rolled on her side towards him giving him a good full view of her body.

Paul laughed, but he was surprised when he felt a stab of jealousy at the thought of her being with anyone else as he took in her body with his eyes, remembering how she'd moved and responded to him. Thoughts and feelings came welling up and he pushed them back as they lead down paths that he didn't want to explore again…they just lead to pain.

"Well if I can't have dinner then maybe we can have breakfast together?"

Faith yawned and stretched again, "Man you're assuming a lot that I'm getting up now…I don't remember joining your army."

Paul sighed shaking his head, "It's navy…and no, you didn't join, but I thought if we went for breakfast, I could first scrub your back while we take a shower together." he said with his own twinkle in his eyes.

He was surprised by how fast Faith moved jumping out of bed, moving towards the bathroom, "Hell, why didn't you just say that in the first place!"

**oOoOo**

Colonel Harper looked at his display console again. The moon was getting larger in his cockpit window and he was still finding it hard to believe that he was actually flying there like some of his childhood heroes. But unlike his heroes that had gone to the moon to explore, he was going there in a ship not designed for the task and carrying over a megaton of nuclear explosive capability to use against an unknown alien force.

"Any sign we've been detected?"

"Ummm…" Commander Hodge replied as he looked at his console

"What is it?"

Hodge shook his head in confusion while studying his display console, "That radar warning system they installed is giving back signals, but it's not like anything I've ever seen."

Harper sighed, "So we've been detected?"

"I can't say for certain, sir. But it looks like they might be picking us up. Should I start our ECM protocols?"

"Negative. Unless we're absolutely sure that they've seen us and made a move, we'll wait until we're almost into firing position and then initiate counter measures."

"Yes, sir."

There was a long moment of silence between the two men, Harper finally spoke, "So what do you think of our passenger?"

Lorne couldn't help but smile, "I'm trying not to, but the images include soft lights and drinks with dancing."

Harper smirked, "Easy there tiger, your wife might have something to say about that."

The Commander let out a soft sigh, "A man can dream, can't he…it's all we've got left isn't it?"

It was Harper's turn to let out a sigh, "Yeah, in a couple of hours we're going to light up space like no one has seen since the planets formed. Can she do the job?"

Lorne give it a moment of thought as he recalled his talk with the Captain, "Yeah…yeah she'll put them on the target." he said nodding slowly.

**oOoOo**

Xander and Cassie were sitting enjoying a quiet breakfast together in the cafeteria which followed the quiet evening they'd spent watching some vids after grabbing some food. They'd both been exhausted, from working in the hanger bay, and had snuggled up to watch an old movie from the ship's library. It was some sort of Kung-Fu movie and he thought that it was okay, but his interest in it grew when she told him that the whole movie had been filmed inside the SDF-1 while in space. Even with his interest at watching a film that had been filmed inside a spaceship travelling in space, they had both ended up falling asleep before the movie ended and not waking until Cassie's alarm went off. Along with sore and stiff muscles, Xander was suffering from mixed feelings as he felt a little guilty at having stayed all night in Cassie's cabin, but he had to admit to himself that he was a little bit disappointed that they hadn't done much beyond some kissing and light groping.

Maybe they would have gone further, but they'd both been so tired and the couch had felt so comfortable and being snuggled up to her, feeling her warm body, put him at ease and in a relaxed state that it was hard to stay awake.

He'd gone back to his cabin, quickly showering and changing into some clean clothes to meet up with Cassie for breakfast. He paused before leaving his room as he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He was wearing a set of REF work coveralls, used by the mechanics and techs on the hanger deck. He had to admit that he actually looked pretty good and with that came the realization that he couldn't keep following Cassie around like some lost puppy dog. She had her own work and responsibilities to take care of and he knew he couldn't just sit around doing nothing. That wasn't like him, he needed to do something and be useful.

In that moment of reflection, he decided he would go back down to the hanger deck, after breakfast, and see if Chief Larson still needed help and if he could watch her work and learn from her. This was a huge step up from working in construction, but working on spacecraft made his inner geek squeal and he knew he would regret it for the rest of his life if he didn't grab this chance.

Xander was picking at his food, listening as Cassie discussed what she had on her plate for today. He was caught a little off-guard as he saw the look on her face change. He wasn't sure what to make of it, "What's the matter?" he asked feeling somewhat unsure that maybe it was something he'd done.

Cassie pointed with her head in a direction behind him, "Nothing…it's just surprising to see those two together."

Xander turned, trying to look nonchalant, but he couldn't keep his poker face as his good eye arched in surprise as he saw Faith and the Captain walking in together. They weren't holding hands, but their body language was giving away a lot as they were walking pretty close together. He couldn't help but notice some of the crew at the other tables, smiling and talking while looking at "the couple". The happy relaxed look was obvious on her face which balanced the tired yet happy look on the Captain. You didn't need to be a rocket scientist to put one and one together to figure out what those two had been doing last night.

Xander turned around with the surprised look still on his face, "Huh…" he said in tone that mirrored his face.

"What's the matter? You seem surprised?" Cassie asked caught off-guard by his reaction. She may have not been that experienced, but even she picked up on what had happened between Faith and Captain Coleiro from their body language.

"You mean about Faith and the Captain? Nah…I'm not surprised that she hooked up with someone, it was bound to happen."

"Then what are you surprised about?"

Xander replayed the image in his mind of how happy and relaxed Faith looked, "Faith's not really the stick around for the next morning type. She's usually done and gone. I'm just surprised that she's still hanging with the Captain."

"Well we are on a spaceship. There's not many places she can run off to." Cassie said as she went back to eating her meal.

Xander pondered Cassie's statement for a moment, "Maybe…" he said in a contemplative tone.

His surprise and shock grew as he caught a glimpse of Anya walking by _and_ holding hands with a soldier. He saw the two of them talking and smiling and he remembered that Anya had told him that she was getting involved with someone else. He'd remembered how it had affected him when she told him. He'd thought that she was making it up to lessen his guilt about him and Cassie, but to see that she was telling the truth was a hard dose of reality. He pushed his denial and guilt aside as he saw Anya walking away looking happy. He was surprised when she turned her head and looked at him, giving him a small gentle smile before turning back to talk to the man she was with. It was in that moment he found himself replaying every memory and moment they'd spent together.

_Good-bye Anya… Long life and happiness…you deserve it…_

He felt some sadness and there was that question of "what if", but he also found a sense of peace in that moment knowing that they had both moved on. He looked back to Cassie and a smile came to his face.

"What's wrong? You okay?" Cassie asked seeing the smile and the way he was looking at her.

"I haven't even finished breakfast and already I've had two surprises today. It makes me wonder what else is going to happen today." Xander said with a small laugh.

**oOoOo**

At a table across the cafeteria, Chief Larson was studying Faith and the Captain as they came in. She'd heard the "stories" that were circulating around the ship. She had no doubts of what had transpired between them as she'd known Paul, especially during his younger wilder days. She saw the happy relaxed look on Faith's face and shook her head while rolling her eyes upward. She noted the happy tired look on the Captain's face and had a momentary flash of concern. It wasn't jealousy that she was feeling — it was a sense of protectiveness for her Captain and friend that she'd known for years. She worried about him and had looked out for him as he tended to not do that for himself. She found herself eyeing the Captain worriedly. She didn't want to see him get hurt again, she'd been down that road before and it hadn't been a pleasant time that she wanted to relive again.

She arched an eyebrow in slight surprise and amusement, as the Captain and Faith tried to be nonchalant about what was perfectly obvious to even a blind person. She kept watching as they grabbed their food and made their way over to the table she was sitting at.

_They're not fooling anyone_, the Chief thought letting out a small snort.

"Morning Chief."

"Morning Captain… Morning Faith."

"Hey…morning." Faith replied with a slight smile and nod acknowledging Larson.

Larson watched with amusement as the Captain and Faith sat down at the table across from each other, pretending like nothing had happened between them. It was quiet as everyone ate their breakfast.

The Chief decided to wait for the perfect moment to break the silence, "So did you guys have a good 'workout' last night?"

That perfect moment was when Paul was taking a drink of coffee. The tone of the Chief's question and what it implied caught him by surprise, causing him to choke on his drink. He tried to recover and answer the question, but Faith answered first.

"Yeah…the multiple sessions last night and the session this morning was great." Faith said in a matter of fact way, but she had a big smirk and a twinkle in her eye as she looked at the Chief.

Larson arched an eyebrow in surprise and looked at the Captain with a smirk causing him to choke again on his coffee.

"That's pretty impressive for an old guy." she said looking back at Faith.

Faith didn't bat an eye as she shoveled a fork full of scrambled eggs into her mouth, "Yeah…it was pretty impressive and loads of fun. I'm looking forward to more 'workout' sessions."

Larson looked at Faith for a moment as she continued to eat. Paul was dreading of what would happen or be said next.

"I like her Cap'n. She's a feisty one." Larson said in a deadpan voice.

Paul thought he was going to choke to death as he tried to keep from spitting up his coffee for a third time. He suddenly became very self-conscious as his repeated choking was drawing stares from the crew in the cafeteria. It didn't help when Xander gave him a small smile and nod from across the room. As he was trying to figure out what to do or say, he was saved from that predicament as he heard his name being called over the ship's PA system.

_Thank god!_ he thought with a huge sigh of relief as he got up in a not so subtle rush to go to the com panel on the wall across from him.

Larson watched as the Captain hurriedly slinked away and watched him come back with a look of relief on his face.

"Sorry ladies, but duty calls… I have to go to the bridge. Chief, I'll be by the hanger deck later to go over the status on those drones. Faith…" Paul said pausing as Faith looked up at him and smiled.

"Yeah?"

"Maybe we can meet up later for drinks…dinner…you know."

"Yeah… I would like that…especially the 'you know' stuff." she said with a grin causing Paul to cough a bit in surprise.

Faith and the Chief sat at the table as the Captain hurriedly left the cafeteria. They sat there for a few moments in silence as they both continued their meals.

"You have something to say Chief?" Faith said as she finished her meal.

Larson didn't bat an eyelash at the question, "Not much… The Captain's a big boy and he's no novice…"

Faith got a smirk on her face, "That's for sure." she added.

Larson let out a sigh, "What you two do behind closed doors is your affair, but the Captain is my friend and I've known him for years."

Faith was suddenly feeling a little defensive and a little jealous as the thought popped in her head that the Chief might have some past history going with Paul, "What's your point." she said a little testily.

"You and the Captain can bump uglies all you want… Hell, he could probably show you a few new things."

Faith snorted at the statement, but she felt her body tingle as she recalled the memories of how she'd felt and what she'd experienced.

Larson ignored Faith continuing on, "I just want to make sure that you don't hurt the guy…he's had a hard life."

Faith was a little surprised at hearing this information about the Captain. He seemed so straight-laced and by the book, "We're just having some fun together…it doesn't really mean anything."

As she said it, Faith felt a little funny and strange. It felt like she'd just told a lie.

Larson grimaced as she heard Faith's words. She stood up to leave the table and paused before moving away. She looked down at Faith and gave her a hard stare, "Be that as it may. If you go and break the Captain's heart…well…I know your tough and strong, but honey you won't see me coming for you."

**oOoOo**

Paul made his way to the bridge feeling hugely relieved to leave the cafeteria behind him and happy to be out of the crossfire between Faith and Larson. He didn't know what was going on between them, but his survival instincts were telling him to stay the hell out of it. His thoughts shifted to Faith and he got a small smile on his face. He enjoyed being with her. He'd been with more than his fair share of women when he was younger, but this was different. He hadn't felt this comfortable with any of the women he'd been with, except for Sonia. Faith was completely different from anyone he'd known. She's rough, outspoken and fearless. She's a person who was — _is_ — living on the edge and facing death in what she does and she doesn't have any Robotechnology, just her own strength and skills. But there was something more to her, there was so much more to her. He could see that she was afraid to open up and share it, but when they were lying together in those quiet moments, after sex, there was something peaceful and right about it.

He had taken longer to get to the bridge than he'd planned, Lieutenant Evans had caught up to him just as he escaped the cafeteria. As they walked, she informed him that she had been approached by a small group of the women — the ones that Buffy and the others referred to as Potentials. They had heard about the flight training taking place and they had expressed an interest in learning how to fly and become fighter pilots. When Paul questioned her about why these women wanted to become VT pilots, Evans got a little embarrassed as she reported that it seemed that she had been the inspiration for this request. He tried not to smile at the Lieutenant's discomfort, but he was in too much of a good mood to stay serious. Evans asked for permission to expand the training program to include these young women. Paul had some mixed feelings about the idea, but he told the Lieutenant that he would give her proposal due consideration and let her know before the end of the day.

As he finally entered the bridge, he temporarily pushed thoughts of Faith and pilot training to the side so he could concentrate on his job. As he made his way towards his command station, he saw an Ensign come to meet him. Paul saw the look on the Ensign's face and he started to get a worried feeling,

"Report."

"Sir…we're picking up an approaching craft."

Paul's face now mirrored the Ensign, "Range and type?" he said as he sat down in his seat.

"Sensors still aren't at full capability, but it looks like a small craft a bit smaller than one of our shuttles and it's at 50,000 kilometers and closing fast relative for its speed."

"Why didn't we pick it up sooner?"

Another crewman spoke up, "Sir, sensors still have limited range and it appears from backtracking the craft's approach path that it was launched from the planet side away from us and our position relative to the moon partially masked their approach."

"Threat assessment?"

"Sensors are still not fully reliable at that range, but we don't detect any energy weapon signatures."

Paul took a moment to let the information settle in. He knew that they had a huge advantage in tech and firepower over anything that this Earth at this time could throw at him. He was trying to figure out what was going through those people's mind to send such a small craft out here alone. He had to remind himself that even though this was Earth, this was not _his_ Earth and they could have developed something that he wasn't familiar with. He got an unsettling feeling building up as he looked at the display, showing the unknown craft on an apparent intercept course with the Arcadia.

"Ensign, set the ship to Condition Yellow."

"Yes, sir!"

Paul leaned forward studying the main display screen showing the plotted positions of his ship and the other craft. He heard the ship's alarms signalling the yellow alert.

"Sir, pin-point barrier and point-defense systems are on-line. Engineering reports engines on-line and we have full maneuvering capability."

"Good work, Ensign. Time to intercept?"

"If we hold our position and they maintain their current velocity, they should be here in an estimated one hour and twenty minutes."

Paul took a moment to think over the situation and the implications, "Inform Lieutenant Evans that I want her prepped in an Alpha for launch but to hold for now."

"Yes, sir!"

**oOoOo**

Faith and Xander were following Kennedy back to Deck Three where their quarters were. They'd both been surprised when Kennedy had shown up in the cafeteria looking for them, but the only answer they got out of her, when questioned, was that Buffy had been looking for both of them and _needed_ to see them ASAP.

There was little conversation at first other than Xander wondering and speculating out loud what Buffy wanted them for. Seeing that Faith wasn't going to play along as she looked like she was lost in deep thoughts, he thought he would try a different approach.

"Sooo… I saw you and the Captain having breakfast together."

Xander couldn't help gulping as he saw Faith give him the evil eye.

"So, what about it?"

"Uh…just saying that you two looked…um…nice together." Xander stammered out nervously.

Faith gave him a strange funny look, "Nice…huh?" she said shaking her head slowly.

"Yeah, you look…happy." he said with a shrug.

Faith rolled her eyes shaking her head again. On the outside she showed no feelings, but inside she found herself a raging torrent of emotions as she was trying to figure out her feelings about what had occurred last night and her feelings toward Paul.

The sex had been great, but normally after the guy had finished and fallen asleep she left. It had always been her _modus operandi_ with every guy she'd hooked up with — she'd never had a reason to stick around. This time it had been different and she found that a part of her was scared. She had laid there in bed with him pressed up against her, running his hand gently up and down her body. She found it unreal and beautiful at the same time feeling the warmth of his body as she looked out his cabin observation window — looking into the depths of space with the surface of the moon huge and up close. She found the contrast of looking off into infinity and the desolation breath-taking.

Even with all that, she had found herself feeling conflicted as a small voice had told her to get up, get dressed and walk out without looking back — _like she'd always done_. That was in direct contrast to the strange feeling that she was having. It was one that was hard to describe and she wasn't used to. If she'd been forced to describe the feeling the only word that she could come up with to describe it would be _comfortable_.

Now Xander's words about her looking happy now mixed with her thoughts and feelings and she tried to get a grasp and understanding of what was happening with her.

_I feel comfortable with Paul… I can't remember ever feeling this way with any other guy… Damn it I do feel happy!_

**oOoOo**

As Faith entered Buffy's cabin, all her personal issues were pushed aside for the moment as she saw that Willow and Spike were in the cabin along with Giles. Faith's concerns grew as she saw the worried looks on the other faces along with Buffy's agitated pacing. She was caught off-guard when she turned and gave her and Xander a hard concerned look.

"About time! Where have you two been? We've got a problem!"

Faith suddenly felt defensive and was going to say something, but Xander beat her to the punch.

"Whoa! Slow down there Buffy. What's the problem?"

Faith could see that Buffy was upset about something, but she had no idea what could be going on.

"Tell them Will…" Buffy said with a nod.

Xander and Faith were still trying to get their feet under them as Willow stepped forward, "As you know I've been spending a lot of time in Engineering…you know learning about their technology and trying to help them see if they can find a way back to their dimension..."

Xander nodded as he knew how excited his friend was to be exposed to new and highly advanced technology. Faith just shrugged as Willow continued.

"…as they've been repairing their ship they have sensor systems that scan with precise measurements that we could only dream about. I mean it's…"

"Willow, get to the chase!" Buffy said harshly seeing that her friend was drifting off topic.

"Huh…oh sorry," the Wiccan said shakily as she refocused on why they were here, "Where was I? Oh yeah…the engineers have been getting their sensors repaired and have been scanning the area of space where they arrived here. In the course of their scanning they have detected some anomalous readings on board the ship…"

Spike saw the confused looks on both Xander and Faith and his frustration at how long this was taking got the better of him. He spoke out interrupting Willow, "Oh bloody hell this is taking too long! The blokes on this ship have found out that Little Bit is a little bit more than she seems!"

Xander and Faith looked at Spike with a stunned look and then they looked at Willow and then Buffy, their faces now mirroring the same concerned and worried looks as everyone else in the room.

"They found out that Dawn is the Key?" Xander asked in shock.

Willow shook her head vigorously, "No! They don't know anything about Dawn…all they know is that there is a faint energy signal on board and they have no idea what it is."

"Does Dawn know? What are we going to do?" Xander asked still trying to come to grips with this news.

Buffy shook her head vigorously, "No and for now we watch and wait. Giles and Willow are looking into a way that we can get off the ship if we need to leave in a hurry."

"Have you said or mentioned anything to Cassie about Dawn?" Buffy asked looking Xander directly in the eye.

"No…I've never said anything or talked about Dawn being the Key."

Xander saw Buffy let out a huge sigh of relief. He was suddenly feeling conflicted about what he would do and say if Cassie and him suddenly found themselves on opposite sides. He knew in his gut that Cassie wouldn't do anything to harm or hurt Dawn, but he had some doubts about the Captain and he turned his head slightly to look at Faith. He was caught by surprise when Buffy spoke abruptly.

"Everyone out! I need to talk to Faith alone…now."

There were worried and surprised looks on everyone's faces, but no one argued as they'd heard the tone Buffy used.

Faith knew what was coming as she saw everyone quickly exit the room. She took a deep breath to try and relax. She didn't have long to wait as Buffy started in as soon as the door closed.

"What the hell are you thinking?!"

"B…it was like—"

Buffy didn't let her finish, "I believed you when you said that you weren't sleeping with the Captain, even though a little voice was warning me not to. Now imagine my surprise when I go for breakfast this morning and the first thing I hear is about how you and the Captain are screwing each other like there's no tomorrow. For cryin' out loud…handcuffs! And after he almost killed you!"

Faith couldn't help herself, "We did take turns with the cuffs…"

Buffy wasn't amused, "DAMN IT, FAITH!"

Faith closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath to keep her anger in check. She opened her eyes and saw Buffy glaring at her, "You finished?" she asked in a surprisingly even voice.

Buffy threw up her hands in frustration, "Sure, why not! What can you say?"

Faith took another deep breath to keep her growing anger in check. She suddenly pictured herself lying in bed with Paul holding her, looking off into space and she felt the anger slipping away as a calm peaceful feeling replaced it.

"First of all, when we talked nothing had happened between me and Paul at that point," Faith couldn't help but notice Buffy's surprise at her using the Captain's first name, "I'm not going to deny that I thought about having sex with him, but it just happened later. I didn't force him to do anything he didn't want to do…besides it's not like he proposed to me or we're buying a house with a white picket fence and settling down. Second if you're worried about me blabbing about Dawn in the middle of an orgasm…that ain't goin' to happen."

Buffy shook her head, "That's not the point. What happens if you're forced to choose between him and us? What would you do?"

Faith paused as she hadn't thought of it that way. She found herself searching her heart and couldn't believe that Paul would do anything to hurt Dawn or her.

"Buffy, he's not the enemy…he's not a vampire or a demon. I've seen and felt something from him and he's not a monster."

Buffy heard the tone in Faith's voice and shook her head slowly, "I hope you're right for all our sakes."

Faith nodded grimly knowing she was staking a lot on what she _thought_ she knew and felt about Paul. A grin came to her face, "Besides, talking about your sister during sex…that's just creepy."

"Ugh! Thanks! I didn't need the thought of that dancing through my head!" Buffy said with a painful grimace as she shook her head slowly.

Faith smiled and she was about to make some glib comment about Buffy joining her and Paul for a threesome when she was struck by the realization that the thought of sharing Paul or him being with another woman suddenly hurt her.

She was still trying to figure out these "new" feelings when suddenly alarms went off, shocking both of them. Before they could even say a word, a voice came over the ship's PA system.

"ATTENTION ALL HANDS! SHIP IS NOW AT CONDITION YELLOW!"

**oOoOo**

The Vice-President of the United States entered his office. He was surprised to find the lights were out and his office dark. He tried the wall switch, but the overhead light didn't come on. Shaking his head slowly, he moved to his desk to turn on his lamp. Before he could turn on the light a voice spoke from the shadows catching the VP by surprise, scaring him.

"What's the status of the mission?"

The VP recovered enough to turn his desk light on. He nervously turned to face the direction where the voice had come from. He recognized the voice and that actually filled him with more fear.

"W-we're on schedule. They should be in firing range in just over an hour." the VP said filled with fear.

"That's good…I and my associates have invested a lot of time and resources to get you into this position. To put you one heartbeat away from being President and make you the leading candidate for a run at the oval office when this term is up."

"Y-yes…t-thank you…m-master."

"Is _she_ aboard the shuttle?"

"Yes master…it took some doing. There were questions asked as there were more senior and experienced officers that could have gone in her place. I still wonder why it was important to get her on this mission."

The creature smiled a grim deathly smile, "_My_ master said it was a stroke of luck and fate to find her. I don't know all the particulars, but my master was most…insistent that she be placed aboard the shuttle. He has a score to settle and she is a tool to be used in his plan. That is why we had you push hard for this mission."

"Y-yes master, I-I understand, but I've read the reports about these aliens and I find it hard to believe that one little shuttle will destroy them and their ship…"

The demon laughed, "If your shuttle destroys the alien ship, that works for us…if they destroy the shuttle, we'll make sure they…especially him…knows _who_ they killed and that will work for my master as well. It's a win-win for us."

The VP was a little confused about who "he" was that his master was talking about, but he'd learned, painfully, to never question his master.


	25. Add one key to mix…

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE:**

**Add one key to mix…**

"**_Patient name:_**_ Paul James Coleiro. __**Age:**__ 15 years old._

_…Patient was brought in by Commander Max Sterling. He informed me that he found the teenager on the streets of Brasilia and that he is the son of one of the pilots from Skull squadron that was killed along with rest of his family during the final attack by Khyron on New Macross... Noted that the patient appears to be suffering from mild malnutrition, but considering he seems to be surprisingly energetic and fit. The patient has not been very talkative, but was able to discern that he has been living on the streets for almost three years. During physical examination, noted a number of scars and bruises of which patient has a sizable flash burn scar that appeared to be several years old. Patient also has what looks like defensive wounds, both new and old, on hands that indicates he has been engaging/engaged in a number of fights. One strange thing I noted during my initial examination was that the surviving medical records for this patient record that his eyes were hazel. The patient's eyes are a very dark brown, an almost black color at times. I'm sure that it is just a mistake as the records date back to when he was on the SDF-1…_"

— Excerpt from private journal of Doctor (Lt. Cmdr.) Marcus Jacobs (Monument City, 2018)

**oOoOo**

Dawn was in love…

At least that was what she was telling herself as she followed Lieutenant Aaron Hanson with big puppy eyes as he gave her a more personal tour of the ship. She couldn't help herself as the young Lieutenant looked for lack of a better description — _dashing_ — in his uniform and that he was closer to her age was another bonus. She still fantasied about Captain Coleiro, but he was so much older than her and from what she'd been hearing other people talk about all morning, it appeared that Faith had sunk her claws into him both figuratively and literally. She'd taken sex education in school and heard people talk about sex, but she was still puzzled by some of the things she was hearing people gossip about Faith and the Captain.

_What's the big deal about handcuffs? Why is everyone getting worked up about them?_

She found herself curious and wanting to experiment to find out what all the big fuss was about.

_I'll talk to Anya…she'll tell me what the big deal is. I think she mentioned something about her and Xander doing something like that once, but Buffy decided I was too young to hear…_

Her attention was brought back to the moment as she found Aaron looking at her with a puzzled look.

"You okay? I'm not boring you?" he asked with a look of dread forming on his face.

"Oh no! Sorry my mind was wandering. I'm having a good time. I enjoyed the simulator training room." she said quickly seeing the look on his face.

Dawn let out a sigh of relief seeing the smile return as it made him look so much more attractive.

_Not Captain Coleiro attractive, but pretty good looking…_

Aaron was just working up the courage to ask Dawn to join him for lunch and dinner when all thoughts of romance were brushed aside as alarms went off. He heard the announcement and out of reflex he turned to run to his station on the bridge. He got only a couple of steps when the realization hit him and he stopped and turned and saw Dawn standing in the middle of the corridor looking completely at a loss of what to do or where to go. He went back and reached out and took her hand giving her a smile.

"Come with me…it'll be alright." he said in a calm voice.

Out of reflex, Dawn squeezed his hand, returning the smile and let him lead her down the corridor as alarms continued to go off.

**oOoOo**

"Helm…prepare to break orbit. I want to have us swing around and get on a parallel course with that target but keeping our distance." Paul ordered in a calm voice.

"Aye, sir! Engaging thrusters and bringing about ship to course heading 145…"

Paul leaned back in his seat. He still had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, but he had no rational explanation for it.

"Go to active scanning. Use whatever sensors we have to get me a detailed scan of that ship."

"Aye, sir!"

"Sir, what about main guns and missile batteries?" one of the bridge crew asked.

Paul gave it a quick thought, before he could answer he heard the bridge door open and saw Lieutenant Hanson entering with Dawn Summers in tow. He was about to remind Hanson about non-authorized personnel on the bridge, especially during alerts, but he saw the lost and worried look on Dawn's face and how they were holding hands.

"Nice of you to join us, Lieutenant," Paul said seeing a nervous look flash across Hanson's face, he then gestured with his head, "She can stay. Just make sure she doesn't get in the way, understood?"

"Yes, sir!" Hanson said trying to not let out an obvious sigh of relief as he hurried over to his station with Dawn in tow and got caught up on the current situation.

"Mister Hanson…"

"Yes, sir!"

"What's your take on the situation?"

Aaron gulped as he tried to quickly assess what they were facing. He found that he was doubly nervous as he didn't want to screw up with Dawn watching. He glanced towards her and she gave him a small gentle smile. He suddenly felt calmer.

"I don't know how that craft can be a major threat to us, sir. I recommend that we stay at Condition Yellow for now until we can get more information." he said in a confident sounding voice.

Paul smiled and shook his head slowly as he noted his more confident sounding First Officer. He'd seen how Hanson had looked at Dawn and the smile she'd given him.

_Sometimes that's all it takes_, he thought as memories came back.

"I concur…stay at Condition Yellow for now, we can make do with point defense and shields for now."

"Yes, sir. If I may sir, I have a suggestion." Hanson said.

"Go ahead."

"I know how you wanted to avoid contact with Earth, but in light of this situation, it is apparent that they know were here. I would recommend that we attempt to establish communications with that ship and warn them off."

Paul was a little surprised and pleased by Hanson's recommendation, he smiled again, "Make it so, Lieutenant."

**oOoOo**

"SIR! We're definitely being locked on by their radar!" Commander Hodge shouted as he looked at his console.

"Damn it!" Colonel Harper muttered.

"Range to target?" Harper asked.

"46,000 kilometers…"

Harper pressed the com button, "Captain Blair?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Can you fire sooner?"

"No, sir! We have to get closer, 5000 kilometers is our max range and that's pushing it." she replied.

Harper took a deep breath and turned to Hodge, "Commander we still have some fuel for our main engines, right?"

Hodge's face went white as he knew what the Colonel was going to order, "Yes, sir. We have enough fuel remaining to initiate a 45-second burn. That will increase our speed and cut our intercept time, but…"

"I know Commander…prepare to initiate engine burn on my mark. Once engines cut, initiate ECM protocol. Also stand-by on maneuvering thrusters, I've got a feeling that our alien friend is going to move and we may have to rotate the ship."

"Yes, sir. Understood. Standing by on your mark to initiate engine burn."

"On my mark…3…2…1…MARK!" Harper ordered.

The shuttle shuddered as the main engines fired sending the spaceship surging forward. Hodge watched the clock countdown the seconds as the astronauts were pushed back in their seats.

As soon as Hodge saw the timer hit the 45-second mark, he felt the engines cut-off. He quickly typed commands into his console.

"Initiating ECM protocols." he reported.

As soon as the commands were entered, the shuttle bay doors opened and eight small rockets, no bigger than a meter, fired out and at a predetermined range exploded releasing strips of aluminized glass filaments creating an expanding cloud surrounding the shuttle. The commands also started ECM jammers that had also been installed in the cargo bay and they immediately went to work creating noise across the electronic spectrum to hide the shuttle from electronic eyes.

**oOoOo**

"CAPTAIN!" the crewman manning the sensor station shouted.

"Report!"

"Target has increased speed!"

_What the hell is going on?_ Paul thought trying to figure what was going on.

"Sir! We've plotted the course and speed of the approaching craft."

Paul nodded for the crewman to continue.

"They're on a trajectory for deep space. There's no way they have enough fuel to get them in a sling-shot lunar orbit to return back to Earth."

Paul was about to comment, when the crewman manning sensors cried out again.

"SIR! Target has deployed countermeasures! We're having a hard time locking on to or scanning the ship!"

_Oh hell!_

"Man Battle Stations!" Paul said trying to keep his voice calm.

Immediately alarms went off and a voice went out from the PA system, "CONDITION RED…MAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS…REPEAT MAN YOUR BATTLE STATIONS!"

Hanson checked his console display and turned to face the Captain, "Sir, all battle stations report manned and ready. Damage control teams on stand-by."

"Good work, Mister Hanson. Helm…start evasive maneuvers. Break through their jamming and get me a scan of that ship. Stand-by to initiate our own counter-measures."

Paul heard the bridge crew acknowledge his commands.

"Sir? What about our main weapons?" Hanson asked the Captain.

"Have gun and missile batteries on stand-by. Cut through their jamming and get me a firing solution, but do not fire…understood?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Try and make radio contact with them and warn them off!"

Paul kept his eyes glued to the main display as he watched the estimated distance between the ship and the approaching shuttle decrease rapidly. He heard the communications officer start broadcasting a message.

**oOoOo**

General Coulson could feel the sweat running down his back and the pit of his stomach dropping away as he watched the huge video display in the Pentagon Situation Room that was streaming real-time video from the shuttle.

He turned his head as he heard one of the senior officers mutter, "Jesus, look at the size of that thing…" as everyone in the room got a better and clearer picture of the alien ship.

Coulson wasn't going to argue as he saw the larger ship on the video display. He knew that this mission had been literally thrown together and it had taken unprecedented co-operation between not only the armed services, but agencies and countries. The mission was pushing equipment and people beyond what they had been designed and trained for. It was a feat of human ingenuity and courage along with being a testament to the skill and dedication of everyone to overcome the major technical hurtles to launch this mission. Even for all that, for Coulson this was still a bad mission that bordered on recklessness that could end in unmitigated disaster for them all.

He looked toward the SECDEF, whose eyes were locked on the video display watching this huge roll of the dice that he had no control over.

"It's starting to move!" an army officer exclaimed.

"Looks like she's making evasive maneuvers." observed an air force officer.

"We put the fear of God in them!" exclaimed one of the few suited civilians in the room.

Coulson resisted the urge to yell at the man's stupidity, but one of the navy officers spoke out.

"Looks like they're giving themselves room to maneuver. It makes sense tactically for them to do it."

Coulson looked at the navy officer and nodded in agreement with his assessment.

_At least not everyone here is a crazy stupid fool!_

Everyone watched as the distance between the two ships counted down at a pace that seemed glacial, but the speeds and distances involved were unprecedented. Suddenly an air force technician with a headset on that was monitoring communications shouted out.

"HEY! I'm getting something…it's a broadcast over open channels!"

The SECDEF didn't hesitate, "Put it on the speaker, so we can all hear!" he ordered in a strained voice.

The technician pushed the necessary buttons on his console and soon a voice came over the speakers in the situation room. Everyone was in shock as the voice spoke in clear and concise English.

_"Attention approaching spacecraft! This is the REF cruiser Arcadia, declare your intentions! You are entering our defensive perimeter! If you do not respond, decrease your speed and disengage your electronic counter measures, we will deem your craft as hostile and take appropriate defensive action!"_

Everyone sat in stunned silence as the message repeated itself several more times. Coulson was the first to react. He knew this was why the SECDEF wanted him in the room at this particular time.

"SIR! We need to abort the mission and open communications with that ship!"

The SECDEF looked at Coulson and suppressed the relieved smile that he could feel start to form. He heard a few of the senior officers in the room start to protest, but most were still stunned by this turn of events.

"I concur General Coulson," the SECDEF said quickly reaching for the phone to connect him to the White House Situation Room and the President.

"Yes, sir… We heard the same thing here…" the SECDEF paused as he knew he was on speaker phone with the President. He recognized the VP's voice, in the background, arguing almost in hysterics that the attack continue and that this was all a ruse to throw them off.

"You want to know what I recommend, sir. I say we take this opportunity to communicate with these 'people' and avoid a confrontation that we're not prepared for… Yes, sir. I understand." the SECDEF said and then hung up the phone.

The SECDEF looked at the air force technician, "Can we reply to that message?"

"Yes, sir! We can route it through our deep-space communication ground stations, just as if we were communicating with the shuttle."

"Good! Send a message to the shuttle to stand-down and broadcast a message back on the same channel telling this…Arcadia…that we wish to open more formal communications with them and to standby."

"Yes, sir!"

The SECDEF turned to the people in the room as the tech started calling over the com channel, "Okay, here is how it's going to go. We need someone from State and NASA. We have to get a dialog going with those people…we have to establish a working group and a team that can be available to meet with their representatives. We have—"

"Sir! We have a problem!"

"What is it airman?" replied the SECDEF not sure that he wanted to hear what was going wrong at this crucial time.

"I can't communicate with our ground station in Barstow, California…they're the only one that is currently in direct line of sight and Atlantis isn't responding to our calls either!"

_Damn it!_ the SECDEF thought. Suddenly somebody cried out.

"Atlantis! She's deploying her missile launcher! She's going to fire!"

**oOoOo**

Colonel Harper looked at the lifeless eyes of Commander Hodge as his body slumped forward in his seat. Harper had liked the human, but when they had heard the communications message coming from their target, Hodge had been insistent in aborting the mission and the demon that went by the name of Harper couldn't let that happen as he had his master to serve. The blow to the throat was quick and lethal, the look of shock and surprise was now etched forever on the Commander's dead face.

Harper was lucky that he'd managed to isolate Captain Blair from the main communications channel and she hadn't heard the message. It wouldn't do him any good to have and go and kill her too as that would make his job even more difficult at this time. He was just lucky that she was isolated from the flight deck by her display consoles and controls that obstructed her view and that she was too busy with her work to notice what had happened.

"Captain Blair."

"Yes, sir."

"How are we looking?"

"I'm ready to deploy our launcher on your mark."

"You have permission to deploy, Captain."

"Launcher deploying now."

"Captain, you are weapons-free. You may fire at your discretion."

"Yes, sir. I will fire missiles in thirty second intervals. First missile away in 5…4…3…2…1…MISSILE AWAY!"

**oOoOo**

"Any luck on cutting through their countermeasures?" Paul asked.

"We're burning through their jammers as we've isolated the frequency their using to hop around on, but they've deployed chaff and it's creating a lot of false signals. As they get closer our sensors will be better able to differentiate the ship from the clutter, sir."

"Helm, maintain evasive maneuvers, but make sure that we present a broadside target for now."

"Sir?"

"It's a risk, but we can bring more point defense weapons to bear and when I order, I want to engage full speed and change direction to present a smaller target aspect and deploy counter measures."

"Aye, sir. Bringing ship on heading 075."

"SIR! We're detecting a radiation spike!"

_Oh hell!_

Further thoughts were cut-off as a crewman shouted out, "VAMPIRE! VAMPIRE!"

Dawn heard the shout and spun around looking for the creatures, but then she heard one of the crewman add, "Confirmed…we have a missile launch from the target. I'm detecting two hard targets, but getting faint echoes indicating there may be more. Confirmed that two of the missiles have a radiological profile…I repeat two of the missiles are nuclear…"

She was relieved that there were no actual vampires on the bridge, but then the realization sunk in that someone had just fired nuclear missiles at them. She took a long deep breath and looked towards Aaron, who was working busily at his console. She found she wanted to go to him and feel him squeeze her hand again and tell her everything will be alright, but she knew that what he was doing was important and he didn't need her in the way.

"Time to impact?"

"Missiles are moving at a slightly higher speed relative to the target…wait...missiles have just increased speed significantly…they must have engaged engines. Impact estimated in seven point five minutes."

"Engage counter-measures…point defense weapons are cleared to engage as soon as they can lock, but wait until missiles have cleared immediate area from that ship…we don't want to destroy them if we don't have to. Helm, continue evasive maneuvers and prepare to go to full speed when missiles are one minute out."

Paul heard the chorus of "Aye, sir."

**oOoOo**

"Shit!" Megan exclaimed not realizing her com channel was still active.

"What is it Captain?"

"The target is deploying countermeasures and taking evasive action. Our missiles are having a hard time staying on target." Megan replied filled with frustration and anger at knowing that their sacrifice was going to be in vain.

"Will they hit the target?"

"Doubtful, sir. They might get close that the blast wave may cause damage, but it will be a miracle if we get a direct hit. Wait—Oh hell!"

"What's wrong Captain?!"

"They've got an anti-missile system!"

Harper was about to comment, but suddenly space erupted in a huge blinding explosion and he had to shield his eyes. He had a moment to comprehend what was going to happen. Out of reflex, he quickly yelled out.

"GET YOUR HELMET ON! BRACE FOR SHOCKWAVE!"

He scrambled to put his helmet on and only barely got it secured when the shockwave hit the shuttle tossing it like a toy.

**oOoOo**

Dawn watched the bridge crew, in morbid fascination, as they operated as one team to deal with the crisis they faced. She looked at Aaron as he worked and she couldn't help herself but smile to see how he responded to a threat and that he was keeping his cool and calm as he called out orders and information.

"First missile three minutes out…confirmed that all missiles are nuclear-tipped fusion warheads. Point-defense systems have lock and are clear to engage."

Dawn turned to look out the observation as she heard the Captain give the order to fire. She saw rapid bursts of light shoot out into space in one direction. She knew it was fruitless to try and spot the missiles, but she kept trying to see if she could see them. Suddenly the darkness of space was lit up by a miniature sun and she gasped at the horrific beauty of it…then she was hit by a wave of pain, like she'd been punched in the stomach.

She tried to steady herself as she felt her legs turn to rubber as she tried to keep her balance. She suddenly saw Aaron's face looking at her with a mix of worry and confusion.

"Dawn? Are you alright?"

She felt her body start to recover and was about to tell Aaron she was fine…when a second sun was created and the pain slammed again into her body, this time she let out a scream and found herself collapsing to the deck. Everything was a haze as more pain tore through her body. She was only dimly aware of what was going on around her. She could hear Aaron's worried voice talking to her, trying to sooth her as she thrashed in pain. She heard him shout.

"GET A MEDIC UP HERE NOW!"

She felt as if her body was being torn apart as more pain ripped through her. She caught a glimpse of another miniature sun flaring into creation and suddenly her brain decided that she'd had enough and mercifully shutdown sending her into unconsciousness. Before she fell into the peace and comfort of the darkness she heard voices talking, but it didn't make any sense to her…

"Medics are on the way!"

"What's wrong with her?!"

"My God! What's happening to her! She's…glowing!"

"Get Security up here!"

**oOoOo**

"What the hell is going on up there?!" the SECDEF asked angrily as the video display from the shuttle was lost in a snowstorm of static.

"Deep space radar is detecting multiple nuclear detonations, sir." reported the communications tech.

"Did they hit the target?" asked one of the other officers.

The airman shook his head, "Unknown sir, it's a mess up there with all the interference, but preliminary reports say that our nukes detonated well short of the target."

"What I want to know is what the hell happened to our communication system?!" the SECDEF demanded.

Coulson put down his cell phone and looked at the SECDEF, "Sir, our communications facility in Barstow was attacked..." he paused as his news sank in with the rest of the room.

"Attacked?!" the SECDEF said in a stunned voice.

"Yes, sir. Everyone there was killed and equipment was destroyed."

"Do we know who is responsible?"

Coulson met the SECDEF's eyes and gave him a hard look. He had preliminary reports from the scene, but he wasn't about to announce _what_ was responsible for the attack to the assembled group. He would bring the SECDEF up to speed in private at the first opportunity.

"Nothing concrete, sir. We're still gathering evidence at the scene."

The SECDEF had seen the look in Coulson's face and could tell that the General knew who was behind this attack and it didn't give him any comfort to know that the General knew.

_Just what we need at this time…_

"How about communications? Can we switch to another ground station to transmit to that ship?"

The communication tech, shook his head slowly, "It'll take hours until the next ground station is in range and then we still have all the radiation interference to cut through…"

The SECDEF was about to reply to say that this situation was unacceptable, when the phone rang. He knew who was calling and he took a deep breath as he answered the phone as he knew that the President would be asking for answers that he didn't have.

"Yes, Mr. President…"


	26. Now stir in one doppelganger…

**CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX:**

**Now stir in one doppelganger…**

"_…I got another call from the academy today. The Commandant informed me that Paul was on probation {again} for his latest 'indiscretion'. _This time_ it was with two fellow female cadets at the same time and in no less than in the female dorm rooms. I find myself filled with mixed emotions as I look at Paul and see his potential, but then his behavior is…not quite up to RDF standards. Rick and I have called in a lot of favors to get him into _and_ keep him in the academy. Getting Paul into the academy was the least we could do for Alex. Though at times like this I wonder if maybe I made a mistake. When I talk to Miriya about Paul and my frustrations and doubts with him, she always reminds me of how I found him, running like a wild animal, on the streets of Brasilia. That kid can be so infuriating at times as I've never known anyone that could potentially _both_ earn honors and be expelled at the same time…_"

— Private journal of Commander Max Sterling (Monument City, 2020)

**oOoOo**

Buffy ran down the corridor in a shaken state after getting word that Dawn had been taken to Medical. She easily outpaced Willow, Xander and Giles as they tried to catch up. She hadn't been given any further information other than Dawn being taken to the hospital. As she hurried to the hospital, she replayed in her mind the events that had led to this latest crisis.

When the first alarm had gone off, her and Faith had exited into the corridor to find everyone else milling around looking dazed and confused about what was happening. Luckily the crewmen stationed on their deck quickly and calmly reassured them there was nothing to worry about. They told everyone that they could either return to their quarters or go to the lounge or cafeteria, but that they had to remain on this deck for their own safety.

Buffy had tried to find Dawn to make sure she was okay, but then she remembered that her sister was off with Lieutenant Hanson for a tour. She tried to keep her sisterly worry in check as she asked one of the crew to find her sister. It wasn't long before she received the somewhat reassuring news that she was okay and was with the Lieutenant on the bridge.

Buffy's usual calm resolve took a big hit as more alarms went off and she heard the call to battle stations. She had no idea what was going on and for one of the few times in her life, she felt completely useless and helpless as she felt the ship increase power and move. It wasn't long before she heard shouts from the lounge and rushed in to find out what was going on. She froze stunned as she witnessed what looked like small suns flare briefly into existence and then disappear.

She had no words or idea as to what was happening. She heard Willow gasp.

"My Goddess!"

Buffy spun seeing a look on her friend's face that was a mix of awe and fear.

"What? What is it?"

It took Willow a moment to find her voice, but when she spoke it was almost in a hushed whisper, "T-they look like…I-I've seen old movies from the testing…"

"What are those things?" Buffy asked impatiently.

"Those look like nuclear bombs going off…"

Buffy spun again to catch one more sun being born and dying in seconds. It hadn't been much after that she'd gotten the call about Dawn.

She burst into Medical looking anxiously around, she quickly spotted Dawn lying on a stretcher being looked at by med-techs. She rushed over to her sister as the others came into the hospital behind her, trying to catch their breaths.

"Dawn! Are you okay?" Buffy asked anxiously. She didn't get a reply from her sister as her fear and dread grew. She looked anxiously at the med-tech, "What happened?! Is she going to be alright?!" she asked trying and failing to keep her voice sounding calm.

The med-tech was running a hand scanner over Dawn, avoiding eye contact with Buffy as she looked at the results, "She's unconscious, but her vitals are stable now. We're running some tests to find out what happened."

The tone in the med-tech's voice and the lack of eye contact gave Buffy a funny feeling and not in a good way. That's when she noticed the two armed security guards standing off to the side, watching them all. Her Slayer senses were giving her bad vibes as Willow, Xander and Giles crowded around the stretcher with her.

"How is Dawn—" Giles started to ask when Buffy spoke in a loud voice.

"What's going on here? What happened?"

Everyone turned in surprise as a voice spoke from behind them at the entrance to the hospital, "I guess that's what we all want to know."

They were all surprised to see Captain Coleiro standing at the entrance with five heavily armed and armored soldiers.

"What's this all about?" Giles asked looking confused.

"That's what we're going to find out. All of you will follow me…now." Paul said in a hard voice.

"No…I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying here with my sister." Buffy replied in her own hard stubborn voice.

"That's not a request…"

Buffy's eyes met the Captain's and she still couldn't shake how dark and intense they were. She took a deep breath and slowed her heartbeat. She felt her body relax as she shifted her weight slightly getting ready. She was caught off-guard as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head slightly and Giles was shaking his head slowly.

"We'll go with you Captain, but our concern is about Dawn." Giles said as he tried to defuse the situation as he'd seen that Buffy was about to lash out. He knew that she would get some of the soldiers, but not all of them before they opened fire.

They were surprised to see the Captain's hard expression soften slightly, "We're going to be just down the corridor and if there's any change the med-techs will let us know."

Giles looked at Buffy and she slowly and reluctantly nodded her head in acceptance. The group of them followed the Captain as he turned and left the hospital. The armed soldiers kept watch as they walked past. As they exited the hospital, they were surprised to be greeted by the sight of Spike down on his knees with his hands behind his head surrounded by another ten heavily armed soldiers in full combat armor with their weapons out and pointing at him.

Spike perked up as he saw Buffy, "Hey! How's little bit? I heard she was here, but Captain Wanker's storm troopers here wouldn't let me in."

Buffy gave Paul a look, which caused him to sigh, "Let him up." he said shaking his head slowly.

"About bloody time. What the hell is going on?" Spike said as he stood up and pulled at his jacket glaring at the Captain and the soldiers. Paul turned and headed down the corridor.

"Shut up, Spike." Giles said as everyone, surrounded by the armed soldiers, followed the Captain down the corridor.

The Captain had been true to his word as they entered one of the lounges on the deck. Buffy and Giles noted with some surprise that he signalled for the guards to remain outside.

The door had barely closed, when Buffy started in not giving the Captain a chance, "What the hell did you do to my sister?!"

Paul turned and glared at Buffy, "We didn't do anything to her!" he said defensively.

"Maybe you can tell us what happened, Captain?" Giles asked in a calm voice again trying to act as a buffer.

"Well…let's see, my morning started off good and then we had a shuttle from your planet attack us launching nuclear missiles."

Everyone looked at the Captain in disbelief, "T-that wasn't you?" Willow asked nervously.

"Uh…no. It seems that your planet decided to not rollout the welcome wagon for us." Paul said sounding a little frustrated.

"Was there any damage?" Giles asked.

"No…our countermeasures and point-defense system intercepted all the missiles well short of us."

"What happened to the shuttle?" Willow asked.

Paul let out a sigh, "It looks like the blast wave from the nukes hit the shuttle hard. It was seriously damaged. We picked up faint life signs, I sent Lieutenant Evans in an Alpha and one of our shuttles to recover it. The last I heard, they were on their way back."

"Okay, you rescued some astronauts…what happened with Dawn?!" Buffy demanded impatiently.

"That's what we want to know. When we took out the missiles with our defenses, they detonated. For some reason it affected her. Next thing we know she collapsed and then starts glowing."

Buffy's eye went wide, "G-glowing? You did say glowing?"

Paul nodded, "Yeah, now the strange thing is that my Chief Engineer has been getting a faint energy pattern from inside the ship that he has no explanation for. Your sister suddenly starts glowing and that energy pattern suddenly goes off like a flare."

Buffy and Giles looked at each other worriedly.

Paul saw them exchange looks, "Will someone tell me what she is and what the hell is going on?!"

"It's rather…complicated." Giles said looking very uncomfortable.

"Oh good…I like complicated." Paul replied sarcastically, "Is she even human?"

Both Xander and Spike didn't like what the Captain was implying and they both jumped to Dawn's defense.

"Mister Harris, I would have thought that your time with Chief Larson would have taught you when to keep your mouth zipped," Paul said angrily, "And for you Spike…you're just one annoying comment from being shoved out an airlock and used for target practice by my gun batteries."

Xander gulped as he zipped his mouth, but Spike was about to be his normal self when he saw Buffy shaking her head, giving him a look. He took a deep breath biting his tongue.

"Stick it up your arse, you twat…" Spike muttered under his breath.

"You say something?" Paul said making direct eye contact with Spike.

"Nothing…just saying I'm glad to be here…" Spike mumbled out.

Paul took a moment to enjoy seeing the vampire's discomfort before turning his attention back to Buffy and Giles, "We're not leaving here until you tell me who and or what she is. Do I make myself clear?"

Giles and Buffy looked at each other again. Buffy let out a sigh and nodded to him, "Go ahead and tell the man."

Giles took a deep breath, "Like I said it's complicated…"

**oOoOo**

Chief Larson was monitoring the rescue operation from her station located on the hanger deck. The real-time video feed from the rescue shuttle and Alpha showed that the shuttle that had attacked them had been battered by the shockwaves. One wing had been torn off while the other one had been heavily damaged. The aft stabilizer had been completely torn away. The cargo bay doors had been either twisted or torn loose. Two of the three engine nozzles had been torn loose, while the third one was barely attached. Larson was surprised that the crew compartment had remained relatively intact.

The rescue shuttle had tried to establish contact with any survivors with no avail. They did confirm that there were still life signs aboard, but power and life support was failing. The EVA crews were experienced and they quickly made the decision that rather than conduct a risky space transfer without knowing the condition of the survivors, they would tow the wreck back to the Arcadia. The rescue crews quickly ran lines to attach to the wreck. It wasn't long before they were pumping in O2 into the crew compartment to stabilize life support.

Larson didn't have to wait long before the wreck was being pushed into the hanger bay by the Alpha in Battloid mode. As soon as the wreck was safely secured on the deck, crews rushed to pry open the hatch and as soon as the hatch popped open, rescue personnel were quickly inside. It didn't take long before word came that there were two survivors, both unconscious, and one dead. Larson stood outside overseeing the work by her crews. She took a moment to study the wreck, imagining how it looked undamaged. She couldn't believe that these people had attacked them with such a primitive designed ship.

Her attention went back to the hatch as rescue personnel brought the survivors out first on basket stretchers. Larson's curiosity got the better of her as she saw the medical personnel place the stretchers on the deck and work on removing the helmets of the survivors to better examine them. As she made her way closer, she started to get a strange feeling. She saw the first survivor that medics were checking out, he was a male looking to be in his late-30's to early-40's. When she looked at the other survivor, she could barely keep her composure.

_My God! It can't be…it can't be her! This isn't real!_ she thought as she found herself staring at the unconscious woman who looked to be in her mid to late-20's with short-cropped blonde hair. Larson felt as if she was looking at a ghost as she saw the nametag on the woman's spacesuit — _Blair_.

"Chief…you okay? You don't look so good." one of her deck crew asked with some concern.

Larson didn't know whether to scream, yell or laugh hysterically as she found herself staring at the unconscious woman. She found herself trying to decide if God was being cruel or if he had a twisted sense of humor.

Larson turned to the crewman, "Take charge here…I have to go see the Captain. I have to see him in-person. I can't tell him this over coms."

She didn't wait for an acknowledgement, from the confused crewman, as she quickly turned and left the hanger deck at almost a full run.

**oOoOo**

General Coulson entered the SECDEF's office. Even before he sat down, he could tell that the SECDEF was not in a good mood. He'd barely gotten settled into his chair when the SECDEF started in.

"What the hell is going on, General?"

"Sir, we're still investigating the attack on our facility in Barstow. I don't want to say anything at this time as the report is just preliminary and is mostly conjecture."

"Bullshit! You know who or what attacked us."

Coulson grimaced, "Sir, it looks like Barstow was attacked by non-human entities."

"What the hell does that mean?!"

"The staff at the site was literally torn apart. We are surmising it was demons, but until we've finished the autopsies we can't rule out vampires either."

"My God…" the SECDEF said in a hushed voice.

There was a long moment of silence before the SECDEF spoke again, "Why would demons or vampires attack one of our communications facilities. That seems a little too high profile and would draw unwanted attention their way."

The SECDEF saw an uncomfortable look cross the General's face, "What is it, General? You may speak freely."

"Sir, when was the last time that your office was swept?"

"You mean for listening devices?"

Coulson nodded.

"It was done this morning. It's done daily."

The SECDEF was a little puzzled as he watched Coulson pick up his briefcase and open it. He was even more confused as the General pulled out a crystal. He was caught off guard as the General said a single word.

"Involvere!"

"What's going Coulson?!" the SECDEF asked in a confused voice.

"Sir, this glamor will hide us for the next six minutes…"

"What in hell's name is a glamor?"

"Simply put, sir. This is a magic spell to mask us…please sir, we don't have a lot of time."

The SECDEF warily nodded his head for the General to continue.

"Sir, the timing of this attack is too coincidental with our attack on the alien ship and them trying to warn us off. I think that taking out Barstow was a contingency plan in the event that we attempted to communicate with that ship or tried to call off the attack."

The SECDEF was shocked at the General's statement, "Are you implying there's some sort of conspiracy taking place?"

"Yes, sir. I don't have any definite proof as of yet, but there's too many coincidences taking place to make this more than a set of converging random circumstances."

There was a pause as the SECDEF let the implications sink in, "You're thinking there is someone high up involved?"

"Yes, sir…the Vice-President and several of the Joint Chiefs at least."

SECDEF felt as if he'd been punched in the stomach with this revelation, "Y-you're joking? Do you know what you're suggesting by implicating the VP?"

"Yes, sir. I made some discrete initial inquiries and on the surface there is nothing obvious…"

"But?"

"I had to dig deep to find that the VP and several of the JC's have dealings with or are represented by the same law firm…Wolfram &amp; Hart."

"That's a pretty thin connection, General."

"Yes, sir. But when I started this investigation, I found other regularities with the shuttle mission."

"What kind of irregularities?"

"The weapons specialist…Captain Megan Blair. There were a lot of strings pulled to get her assigned to this mission."

"You saying she's involved as well?"

"No, sir. Her background comes up clean. She's smart and talented, but she shouldn't have been the top pick for this mission…not even top five."

"So why in the hell did they want her on this mission?"

"Unknown, sir. But checking into the other crew members, I found that Colonel Harper…the mission commander also has had dealings with Wolfram &amp; Hart."

"Jesus…" muttered the SECDEF.

"General, this is dangerous territory you're delving into here. You can't conduct a formal investigation of the VP without substantial proof."

"Yes, sir. I understand that, but this still needs to be investigated."

"I take it you have a plan then?"

Coulson nodded as he looked at his watch to see how much time they had left on the glamor, "Yes, sir. I have taken steps to put a firebreak between us and any investigation into the Vice-President and the others. There will still be the normal customary review board of what happened to the mission and the investigation into Barstow, but those will be for show to hide the real investigation."

"If what you're saying is true, who is there that we can trust to do this type of investigation and keep their mouth shut?"

"Uh…we have someone that my predecessors have dealt with in the past on other matters that required a certain…touch. He used to have his own investigation firm, but he now runs the Los Angeles office of Wolfram &amp; Hart."

The SECDEF looked at the General as if he was crazy, "You've got to be joking?! You going to use someone from the law firm that we suspect is involved with this conspiracy to investigate itself?!"

"Yes, sir! I have no doubts in his willingness to investigate Wolfram &amp; Hart's connection and involvement. Plus, he's in the perfect position to do this without drawing attention directly back to us if it blows up."

The SECDEF shook his head slowly still in disbelieve of what he'd been told, "I sure hope you know what you're doing, General. All our heads are on the chopping block if this goes bad."

"Yes, sir. I understand perfectly... Have there been any more attempts to contact the ship?"

The SECDEF sighed, "We've tried, but it appears that they have moved behind the moon to hide from being observed and the moon is blocking our transmissions. NASA is trying to figure out a way to bounce a signal back from some of our space probes to reach the dark side, but they're having no luck."

"Any news about Atlantis?"

"No…we confirmed that they launched their nukes, but it appears that all the missiles were intercepted well short of the target. From what we can tell, the blast wave from the nukes destroyed the shuttle."

"Is there going to be a public announcement?"

The SECDEF snorted, "About that we lost a shuttle firing nukes at aliens…no. The White House is sitting on the story for now until they can figure out what to do. Which means God knows when that will happen."

"Yes, sir…"

**oOoOo**

Faith was on edge as she found herself pacing the corridor. She'd found out about Dawn and raced to the hospital. . She'd been surprised that Buffy or at least Giles wasn't hanging by Dawn's bedside when she got there. It was when she was talking to the med-tech to get an update on Dawn's condition that she noticed the pair of armed security guards that were hovering around the periphery, that's when she started to get a bad feeling. She'd been relieved to find out that even though Dawn was unconscious, she was stable. It took only a little bit more cajoling to get the med-tech to tell her what had happened with the Captain, Buffy and the others and where they had gone off to — a lounge on this same deck.

It didn't take her long to find where everyone was meeting as the fifteen heavily armed soldiers gave it away. She tried to get in, but this time her feminine charms were to no avail as the guards refused to let her through or let her communicate with anyone inside on Captain's orders.

She decided to hang around the lounge as she felt that if things got worse then she would be needed here. She hoped that she could act as a buffer if needed. As she waited, she felt her nervousness rise and found herself craving for a smoke as she continuously paced with the guards keeping an eye on her and the door to the lounge. There were a couple of times that she could have sworn, she'd heard Paul's voice shouting from inside the lounge.

_At least the guards aren't rushing in. That's got to be a good sign…doesn't it?_

Faith had no idea of how long she'd been waiting when the door to the lounge opened. She saw Paul come out and a smile started to form on her face. That was until she picked up on his body language and then saw his face.

_Oh boy…he's not happy. He's pissed about something…_

Looking at his face, she was surprised how quickly she'd seemed to be able to read his moods. She found herself uncharacteristically hesitating as she tried to decide what to do, but she quickly made up her mind that she wanted to know what was happening and she moved to catch up with him as he headed down the corridor away from her.

"Paul!"

She called again as she ran to catch up to him, "Paul, wait up! What's wrong?"

She got a bad feeling as she saw him suddenly stop and stiffen up. She felt a knot in her stomach form, and she found herself suddenly preparing for the worse.

"Tell me that you didn't know." Paul said in a hard voice as he turned and faced her.

"Know about what? What are you talking about?"

"About Dawn…tell me you didn't know what she is."

Faith couldn't find the words to answer his question.

Paul saw the look on her face and her hesitation was all the answer he needed, "I thought I had seen it all back where I come…all the lying, back-stabbing and manipulation. But you people here take it to all new levels. We're trying to get back home and you people are sitting on a god-damn key that opens doors to other dimensions! You didn't even consider mentioning that little fact that could help us out."

Faith tried to recover, "W-we didn't know you…you got to realize that the last person that tried to exploit Dawn's power tried to do it by sacrificing her…draining her blood to open the portal."

Paul got a sickened look on his face which stabbed at her, "Yeah I got that story…some sort of god-being named Glory. I don't know what's worse, being lied to or that you would think that I…we're a bunch of monsters that would drain a teenage girl's blood just for my…our own wants."

Faith felt as if she'd been slapped as she heard the tone of his voice and saw the hurt in his eyes.

"L-like I said we didn't know you…we haven't had a lot of good experiences dealing with the military."

Paul shook his head, "I thought we'd proven ourselves by putting our lives on the line for you and the others. I thought we had earned some trust from all of you."

It took her a long moment as she found herself feeling uncharacteristically uncomfortable and awkward under his gaze, "O-our first concern was to protect Dawn. She's just a normal teenage kid despite where she originally came from."

"You know I get it…I understand Buffy's stance. Wanting to protect and take care of her baby sister…at all costs."

Faith saw a pained and haunted look pass over Paul's face as he spoke.

"I wouldn't expect you to rat out your friends, but that you wouldn't speak up on my…our behalf to come forward and help us out, that…"

Faith was stunned that he thought she'd betrayed him somehow, "Are you talking about us and what we did last night? If you are, I don't know what—"

"Oh please…spare me the speech. I'm not some love sick teenager. Did you think that I was going to propose marriage and we find a nice little house to settle down in? God, I've lost count to how many times I've given that speech. I started using that speech before I was eighteen! All I'm saying is that I saved your ass in Sunnydale and the night we spent together should have at least earned me some trust and consideration. Don't you think?"

Faith felt confused now. It wasn't like she'd been expecting him to profess his love for her, but at the same time she felt some pain at how casually he'd brushed off the night they'd spent together. The words came out before she could think, "I-I'm sorry. You're right. We should have been more honest once we got to know you."

"A little late now…don't you think?"

Faith found herself torn as she wanted to say or do anything to make things right between them while a little voice was telling her that this was her chance to make her escape.

_You've had your fun, but it's time to move on to greener pastures…_

Faith tried ignoring the voice as it continued.

_You just want to have more sex with him…more orgasms to make you feel better. It's not worth it… You keep it up and who knows what kind of trouble you'll end up in… He's not worth it…_

She found the resolve and pushed the voice away. She was surprised to find that she wasn't ready yet to move on. She wasn't sure about what she was feeling, but she wasn't ready to turn her back on Paul. Faith found herself in uncharted territory and didn't know what to say or do. She struggled as she tried to come to grips with what she was feeling and find the words to say to make things better between them.

"Ahem…Captain."

Faith and Paul both turned to find Chief Larson standing off to the side. They'd both been so involved with each other that they hadn't heard her approach. Paul saw the Chief's face and got a bad feeling.

"What's wrong, Chief?"

"Ummm…Ah… Sir…"

Now Paul was really worried as he'd never seen the Chief like this before, "Spit it out Chief! What's the matter?"

"Sir…we've recovered two survivors from the shuttle that attacked us."

"Okay…anything else?"

"They're both unconscious…they're bringing them up to Medical."

"Okay, thanks Chief." Paul replied wondering why the Chief just hadn't reported this over the com channel. He saw the Chief still standing there still with that same look on her face and he felt a chill pass through him.

"What aren't you telling me?"

"Sir…you need to come to Medical."

Paul could feel the dread growing inside him, but he followed as the Chief turned and headed back towards Medical. Faith was confused about what was going on and followed as well.

As they rounded the corner to the main entrance towards Medical, from the opposite direction med-techs came with stretchers carrying the survivors and dead. Paul was still trying to figure out what was wrong with the Chief, when he caught a glimpse of short-cut blonde hair. His heart froze as he made out the face of the woman on the stretcher.

"STOP!"

The med-techs froze in place as they heard the order and then saw their Captain come sprinting from the other direction. Everyone, except for Chief Larson, was confused with what was going on as the Captain slowed down as he got closer to the stretcher carrying the unconscious woman.

Paul felt his legs turn to rubber and his heart start pounding harder. He couldn't believe it. He refused to believe it.

_It's not possible…it can't be…this is a dream…a nightmare…_

He reached hesitantly out to touch the unconscious woman's blonde hair, but found his hand shaking too much and pulled it back.

"Sir, we need to get the injured inside." one of the med-techs said still confused over their Captain's behavior.

Paul couldn't trust his voice anymore and nodded his understanding. The med-techs and stretchers quickly continued on their way.

"Sir? Are you okay?" Larson asked as she approached the Captain slowly. She saw the painful stunned look on his face and she was scared for him.

"H-how?" he asked.

"I-I don't know, sir." Larson replied in her own stunned voice.

Paul felt overwhelmed and could feel his world come crashing in on him as the face of the unconscious woman and memories pounded at him.

"I-I can't deal w-with this right now…" Paul said hurriedly as he turned and fled down the ship's corridor.

Faith watched as Paul quickly disappeared. She was stunned not only by his behavior and that he looked like he'd seen a ghost, but that even though she didn't know who the unconscious woman was, she'd recognized the face as well. It was the spitting image of the young woman who'd been posing with Paul in that picture she'd found in his desk.


	27. Let's play then

**CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN:**

**Let's play then**

"_…Commodore Lau called me in for a meeting today. She informed me that Admiral Hunter has approved the mission to retake Earth by Mars Division. She says that the command slot for the mission hasn't been finalized and that my name has been mentioned for it. I find that I'm of mixed emotions, a part of me wants to lead the attack against the Regess and end this war for once and for all, but another part of me wants to stay with the Reapers. I'm happy to stay a fighter jock, even if it is commanding a squadron. I also know that there is a part of me that has no desire to return home as there is nothing but bad memories and death there for me. I'm planning to recommend John Gardner for the command slot. He's a good soldier and more than capable for the task. Besides that, I'm happy to keep serving under April {Lau}. I'm just glad she doesn't hold a grudge or have any hard feelings over what happened back in the academy. I still feel bad of the position I left her in, but in my defense I had to bail out the window as I was already on academic probation…_"

— Private journal of Captain Paul Coleiro (Tirol, 2039)

**oOoOo**

Faith didn't know what to do or say. The only word she could use to describe what she was feeling was stunned. She looked at Chief Larson, who stood there with that look on her face staring down the corridor where the Captain had fled down.

"What's wrong? Who is that woman?"

Rachel turned to Faith. She couldn't believe it was only a few short hours ago that she'd been worried about this young woman hurting the Captain. Now it didn't seem to matter.

"Chief?"

Rachel took a deep breath trying to recover some semblance of control and normalcy, "I should've figured that something like this was possible…you know, alternate dimensions and all that. But until it slaps you in the face, you just don't think about it."

Faith was confused at the Chief's ramblings, "What're you going on about?"

"Ghosts…the past…how you can never escape them."

Faith took a moment to decipher what the Chief was going on about, "You're talking about that woman and how she looks exactly like the woman I saw in a picture with Paul when he was younger."

Faith was a little stunned as the Chief spun around to face her, "Y-you saw the picture? H-he told you about Sonia?"

Faith shook her head, "I don't know who Sonia is…all I saw was the picture. From what I could tell, the woman in the picture and him were close…really close."

She was a little surprised as the Chief motioned for her to follow her. They didn't exchange any words as they went down several decks. Faith was wondering where they were headed as they came up to a door and the Chief opened it and went in. Faith followed in right behind her.

As Faith entered the room, it didn't take her long to realize that this was the Chief's quarters. In stark contrast to Paul's cabin, there were technical manuals and what looked like blueprints strewn around the room. What really caught her eye were the pictures on the wall. Some were framed, some were stuck in frames and others were taped to the wall.

Faith found herself drawn to the pictures, there were pictures of people, planes and what looked like a giant flying robot in space. Her attention turned as Larson came over carrying a bottle and two shot glasses. Faith didn't turn down the offered drink.

"After what just happened, I think we need this."

Faith was still at a loss for words as she gulped down the shot and held out the glass for a refill.

"Thanks, Chief."

"Rachel…"

Faith nodded as her glass was refilled. This time she sipped the drink as she turned to the wall to look at the pictures again.

"I was nineteen, when the First Robotech War started. I hadn't planned on a career in the military, but sometimes circumstances don't give you much of a choice…" Larson said with a sigh and shrug, "…turns out I was a natural mechanic. I could figure out and fix problems quickly. I was assigned to Skull Squadron…the best of the best."

Larson pointed to a picture that was of large group of military personnel gathered in front of a large looking fighter with a large skull emblazoned on the vertical tail stabilizer. Faith looked at the picture, she couldn't believe how everyone looked to be her age or younger. She noted a tall older looking man with long blonde hair that was standing at the front of the group with a huge smile.

"That's Roy Fokker…the guy could wear a cockpit and he was also one of the best pilots I ever knew and I've been lucky to have known a number of them." Rachel said with another sigh as memories came back.

Faith's attention was drawn to another picture beside the large group photo. This was a picture of a pilot holding a young boy in his arms. The boy was wearing a flight helmet and had a huge smile on his face. She looked at the pilot's face as it looked so familiar and then at the boy's smiling happy face. Her eyes went wide as she realized who she was looking at.

"I-is that…"

"Yeah, that's Paul with his father…Alexandre."

"You knew Paul as a kid?" Faith asked in a shocked voice.

A small wistful smile came across Rachel's face as the memory played in her head, "I remember how Alex would bring Paul down to the hanger deck during those rare times when the Zentraedi weren't trying to kill us all. He would put that boy in the cockpit of his VT and Paul would smile and laugh."

Faith saw the look on Rachel's face and recognized the pain and sadness behind the smile, "What happened to him?"

"You mean them…" Rachel said with a sigh.

Faith was confused for a moment and then it hit her. Rachel saw that she understood as her smile faded as more memories came back of one particular day.

"You fight for so long …you see most of the Earth destroyed and realize that you were the lucky ones. You work hard and try and rebuild something from the ashes. Alex and Cathy…Paul's mother…settled down. They had another child…Anna."

Faith got a really bad feeling as she saw the look on Rachel's face.

"You probably saw the huge scar on Paul's thigh."

Faith nodded as she recalled her hands running over it, touching it.

"He got it when he was eleven. Flash burn…he was far enough back to survive, but close enough to see his mother and sister die."

Faith's heart froze.

"If that wasn't bad enough, his dad died the same day trying to protect them."

Faith closed her eyes as she finished off her drink. She held out her glass for a refill, "He lost everyone?"

Rachel nodded as she took another sip of her drink, "I didn't find out he was alive until he was fifteen…he was nineteen when I saw him again. It's funny, but you remind me of him at that age."

Faith couldn't help herself as she smiled, "Quite outspoken was he?"

Rachel couldn't help herself as she laughed, "Oh god, yes! Walked around with a huge chip on his shoulder, ego as big as all outdoors and cocky as hell…looking for a fight all the time."

"Sounds familiar." Faith said with a chuckle, "I guess he had a lot to prove."

Rachel's smile faded, "He had nothing to prove. He was…is that good. He was a born soldier," she paused, "I told you he had a hard life…"

Faith nodded.

"I tried to imagine what it was like to first watch your world burn and then watch your family die. I guess something like that would fill you with hate…wanting to strike back."

Faith felt her heart go out to Paul, but she was a little confused, "Who's Sonia?"

Rachel let out a sigh, "They met in the academy…she was a year ahead of him. You would have never thought that those two…well…they were quite the pair. She was the only one that seemed to be able to reach him. They could get so intense it was…uh…you know, but boy when they fought they would have knock down fights."

Faith knew where this story was going, but she had to ask, "What happened to her?"

"She was a fighter pilot too. They both were assigned to the expeditionary force. He was assigned to Skull Squadron, she was assigned to the Grim Reapers…"

"But, he's—" Faith started to say.

"Yeah, I know. We were assaulting an Invid hive complex on some remote piece of shit planet. Paul was pushing it, as always. He was racking up the kills. He made a mistake and left a hole in the defensive coverage as he went to take out the Invid Brain," Rachel saw the confused look on Faith's face, "Think of the brain as the main computer system for the whole hive…"

Faith nodded as the Chief continued.

"He took out the brain, but the break in coverage allowed a group of Invid Enforcers to get through and hit Sonia's squadron from behind. They were already heavily engaged and got taken by surprise…they got massacred."

"He feels guilty about it then?"

Rachel nodded and took a deep breath, "Paul flew in and took out the remaining Invid mecha. Somehow Sonia was still alive. He pulled her from the wreckage just in time to have her die in his arms."

Faith had no words as she tried to picture it all. She found herself filled with mixed emotions.

"The kicker was that command was satisfied in the end, because Paul's actions had actually ended the battle sooner and the losses were less than projected…but then that didn't mean much to him."

Rachel finished off her glass and poured another shot, "You have to spend time with Paul to get to know that he's a really complicated person. There are parts of him that I don't about as he's never opened up about them. I know some things from hints, things he let slip when he was really drunk. The only person that I know that he truly opened up to was Sonia."

Faith suddenly felt a strange feeling — a mix of pain, loss and sadness. She had no idea where these feelings were coming from and then she suddenly felt a flash of jealousy towards this dead woman and the unconscious woman in the hospital. She had no rational explanation for the feeling, she just knew it hurt.

"So they were in love?"

"Yeah…Paul's been with a lot of women in his life and I mean a lot, but with Sonia it was always different. He would get this look in his face and eyes that was different…softer…happier when they were together and not fighting. I haven't seen that look in years…at least not until this morning when I saw you two walk into the cafeteria together."

Faith felt like she'd been punched in the gut and for a moment she had no words or thoughts as time seemed to freeze. She quickly downed the rest of her drink and held her glass out for a refill. She was shocked to see her hand slightly trembling.

"Y-you're saying that h-he l-loves m-me?" she managed to finally spit out and then slammed her drink back quickly.

Rachel shrugged, "I'm not going to lie to you. I don't know, but I do know that he's happy when he's with you and that says a lot."

Faith could feel her heart pound faster as she didn't know what to think or feel as the Chief's words sank in, "What do I do? He's mad at me and now we've got his dead girlfriend's look-alike aboard."

"I don't know what happened down on the planet when he pulled you guys off, but it was eating at him until you two hooked up. You want my advice?"

Faith nodded as she was finding herself way in over her head. She'd always left before any of the drama had started as it wasn't her style and she hadn't wanted any part of it.

_Relationships always complicated things…I'm a Slayer and I come pre-stamped with an expiry date…I never wanted to be tied down to one place or one man…_

"If I were you, I would go and talk to him." Rachel answered.

"I-I'm not really the conversation type of person as you may have noticed. I wouldn't know what to say let alone know where to start." Faith replied feeling a sense of panic go through her.

Rachel snorted as she looked at the bottle and contemplated whether to have another drink, "Talking is the easy part…the hard part is listening. If you can get him to open up and you're there to listen to him. The rest is easy." she said as she put the cap back on the bottle and put it down on her table.

**oOoOo**

It was the voices that brought Harper back and made him aware of his surroundings. He heard the low voices talking and he was confused at first as his last memory was of bracing for impact as a huge blinding shockwave was about to hit the shuttle.

He slowly opened his eyes and saw people moving around what looked like a hospital. This confused him even more as he knew there was no way that they could have gotten back to Earth let alone a rescue mission been mounted to recover them. As his mind cleared, he noticed the uniforms and the realization sank in that he was actually on the alien spacecraft.

He caught out of the corner of his eye movement and saw that one of the strangely uniformed people was coming his way. He quickly closed his eyes and relaxed his breathing to make himself appear as if he was still unconscious.

_Too many people around… I need to wait before I make my move… I'll need a weapon and then I need to find where the engine room or life support controls are…_

**oOoOo**

Commander Schmidt was reviewing the latest sensor scans of the area of space around the ship. He wasn't privy to the events that had occurred on the bridge during the missile attack, but looking at the sensor scan readouts from before, during and after the attack were filling him with confusion and concern.

He punched up the original space-fold data on his screen and studied the energy wave patterns and output. He wasn't sure what was happening as he compared this information against what was being recorded now, but he was getting a bad feeling in his stomach. He needed to gather more information, before going to the Captain.

**oOoOo**

Paul found himself a raging torrent of emotions as he paced back and forth in his cabin. It felt like everything was piling up on him as he found himself uncharacteristically unable to decide what to do or how to even respond. He found himself pulling his bottle of whiskey out of his desk, placing it on top of the desk. He stood there staring at it. He found it so tempting to just drink himself to unconsciousness, just like he used to.

_It would be so easy…just get blind drunk like old times…forget about the pain until I'm sober and then repeat…_

He sat down on the edge of his bed, his eyes still staring at the beckoning bottle. He took some deep breaths and finally closed his eyes trying to figure out what in the hell was going on.

_Okay…first issue is that you find out that one of your passengers is a key to open doors between dimensions. They didn't tell you because of the risk that others would exploit this girl for their own purposes... _

Paul thought it over. He was upset about finding out about Dawn the way they did, but he was able to understand — somewhat — about their need for secrecy. He was a little put off that they felt they couldn't trust him. He wasn't some ogre that was going to drain the poor girl's blood just to get home. He did have _some_ boundaries that he would never cross. His mind drifted to his response and how he'd snapped at Faith.

_Yes…you were an idiot and overreacted with her. She doesn't owe you an explanation much less anything else. We had a good time together and that's it…isn't it?_

Thinking of Faith caused him to feel confused. He felt stupid and angry at himself for snapping at her, but at the same time he surprisingly felt hurt that she hadn't trusted him. Now he had to deal with someone, who looked exactly like Sonia in the ship's hospital.

The rational part of him realized that it couldn't be his Sonia. He'd held her body as she died and buried her on that godforsaken rock years ago. He could feel a part of him wanting desperately to believe it was her, it would make the pain and guilt he'd been carrying for years over her death go away.

_It would be so much easier to believe the lie than deal with the hard cold truth…_

His mind was sorting through everything that was happening and he was finding that there were too many coincidences happening to believe this was all "random". It didn't take much detective work to realize that he was being played again and there was a very short list of suspects out there that was trying to pull his strings and make him dance. He could feel his anger start to build again at being manipulated by The First. He stood up and walked over to the desk, grabbing the bottle. He opened the desk drawer and put the bottle away slamming the drawer close.

"Fuck you…you want to play. Let's play then." he muttered angrily.

_I've got more than enough firepower to turn that town and the Hellmouth to glass… It's time to get detailed scans of that town and the Hellmouth. We'll have to co-ordinate Engineering and get Giles's and the others help on what attack method will be most effective… My preference would be to fire a salvo or two from the Arcadia's main batteries and then drop a Reflex warhead or two…maybe three for good measure…_

Paul let out a sigh as a smirk came to his face, _Yeah that might be going a bit overboard… _

He was surprised to find that his shock was going away and that he was no longer feeling helpless and spiraling out of control. He would find out what was going on with the Sonia look-like, figure out what to do with his two newest passengers and then take his strip of flesh — figuratively — from The First. His thoughts went back to Faith and he found himself confused over what to do with her.

_I was an ass to her…it's not like this wasn't the first time I've acted like a complete idiot with a woman, but…_

Paul let out a sigh as he ran his hand over his head, _Okay…I was an ass. Now what?_

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door. He was trying to figure out what he was going to do about or say to Faith as he walked to his door. As the door opened, he was surprised to find the main subject of his thoughts standing at his door — looking uncharacteristically nervous and fidgety.

"Uh…hi there." Paul said awkwardly suddenly mirroring Faith's body language.

"Ummm…hey."

There was a long moment of awkward silence as they both stood in the doorway looking at each other.

"I-I wanted to stop by…and see how you're doing. You didn't look good earlier." Faith said feeling out of her element and not sure of what she was doing or even what to say.

Paul found himself unsure of what to say or do as he looked at her. He suddenly was aware that they were just standing there, "S-sorry, you want and come in…maybe talk?"

Faith found herself smile at the offer, "Yeah…I would like that."

**oOoOo**

Aaron was feeling a mix of worry, anxiety, concern and a few other feelings that he couldn't identify as he made his way down to Medical to check in on Dawn. He'd found it hard to concentrate as he finished his duty shift as his thoughts continually drifted to her. He didn't know what was going on with her, but he was relieved to have gotten an update that her condition was improving. He now had to deal with the problem of what had happened to her as it wasn't like anything he'd ever seen before. All he was sure of, was that when he'd seen her collapse, he'd never been so afraid.

As he got closer, he found himself slowing down his pace. He felt guilty that he hadn't made it down sooner and he still didn't know what he was going to say, let alone how he was going to talk about what had happened to her. He tried to work through different scenarios in his head.

_Hey Dawn…about the glowing thing…nah…_

He went through numerous ideas and approaches and discarded each one, He wasn't sure what he was going to do, all he knew was that he was worried and concerned about Dawn and he was surprised to discover that he didn't care what she told him. He just wanted her to be alright.

He was still lost in his thoughts and worries as he got closer to Medical, but suddenly he was brought back to the moment as he thought he heard shouting, followed by yelling. His senses and reactions kicked in as suddenly there were screams followed by what he recognized as weapons fire coming from the direction of Medical.

Without thinking, Aaron started running down the corridor towards the hospital entrance. Time seemed to slow down as the door of the hospital opened up. Aaron skidded to a stop and his eyes went wide as he saw _something_ come out the door, holding one of the med-techs in its grasp and brandishing a Gallant.

The intruder looked human as it was standing on two-feet and was man-shaped, but the head and face wasn't like anything he'd ever seen and that was something for someone that had visited other planets and seen and interacted with aliens.

The head was a sickly pale green color and the face was covered with small spikes — like a puffer fish when puffed up. What really caught his attention were the red eyes. They looked so inhuman, almost like they were on fire.

Aaron saw the creature, with its hostage, spin towards him as it detected his presence. He then became aware of the Gallant being pointed his way and hearing the distinctive energy charge build up. He didn't hesitate as he dove for cover as the creature fired at him. He felt the heat of the plasma against his skin as the shot barely missed him.

Aaron hit the ground, rolling trying to find better cover and not make himself a stationary target as his training kicked in. He saw the creature struggling with the med-tech as she fought with her captor. He watched in helpless horror as the creature threw the struggling med-tech against a bulkhead and then shot her at point-blank range in the stomach with the Gallant.

The smell of burning flesh and intestines filled the corridor. Aaron pushed down the bile building in his throat as he tried to locate the nearest com panel. He spotted the closest panel, which was ten feet away, _closer_ to the creature. He didn't hesitate as he knew he had to raise the alarm. He shot out of his cover, like a sprinter, faking to his right and then moving left, twisting his body as the creature fired another shot at him. He didn't think he could move that fast but he was at the com panel in seconds, slamming his hand against the alarm button on the panel.

There was a moment of satisfaction as he heard wailing alarms fill the corridor, but then his attention was back on the creature as it fired again. He tried dodging, but as he spun he felt his arm burn. The smell of burning fabric and skin filled his nostrils and his body registered the flaring pain in his left arm as he hit the ground. His vision blurred and he found it hard to focus as pain shot through his body. He could make out that the creature was looking at him. Aaron's eyes went wide as he could see the Gallant being pointed directly at him. Suddenly the creature pointed the weapon in a different direction and fired a couple of quick bursts. That's when Aaron became aware that Security was responding as more plasma bursts flew past in the opposite direction. He was helpless lying on the ground as a short firefight ensued, which ended as the creature ran off down the corridor.


	28. …I never thought that it was possible

**CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT:**

**…I never thought that it was possible**

"_…I was never the romantic type of person or at least I thought I wasn't. I remember reading the stories as a kid and then watching the movies when I was older and I always hated how the woman would get so bent out of shape, suddenly becoming so weepy and weak-kneed over the big manly hero. I'm a Slayer, it's my job to face the danger and the darkness. I had no need for a big strong man. I tended to end up rescuing those same strong men. I had only one use for men and that was after the fight when I needed to release the tension and stress. Back then I could never understand how someone could become so dependent and attached to another person as my relationships used to be measured in hours or a few days at the max. It seemed so foreign to me, but yet there was Paul. To find that we were both broken inside, had grown up in less than perfect circumstances, had seen/faced death and had been forced to do ugly things to survive, it created a bond between us. He was someone I could relate to and understand and he understood me…besides the sex was really really good…_"

— Private journal of Faith Lehane

**oOoOo**

There was another long moment of awkward silence as Faith and Paul nervously looked at each other. Each of them didn't know what to say or do as they dealt with thoughts and feelings that were of a similar nature.

"Uh…you feeling better?" Faith asked feeling not even in the same time zone as her comfort zone.

"Yeah…it was a bit of shock. I-I wasn't ready when I saw that woman looked like…" Paul said trailing off.

"Sonia…she was the spitting image of Sonia."

Paul was shocked and surprised, "H-how did—, Chief Larson told you, didn't she?"

Faith nodded as Paul let out a deep sigh and ran his hand over his head.

"You going to be okay?" she asked with genuine concern as she studied him.

Paul considered the question for moment. He was surprised as he let out a snort and a small smile came to his face, catching Faith by surprise, "Yeah…I think I'm going to be okay. It was a shock, but yeah I'll be fine."

A smile came to Faith's face as she let out her own sigh of relief at seeing his response, "Been quite the day hasn't it?"

"Yes it has."

There was another awkward moment of silence before Faith broke it.

"I-I just want you to know i-if you want to talk or whatever…I'm not the greatest person for that sort of thing, but you know…if you need to…I can…" as the words left her mouth she felt awkward and clumsy in a way she hadn't felt in a long time.

_Smooth move Slayer! Maybe B can help me remove my foot from my mouth…_

Paul was caught off-guard by her offer and he could see that she was struggling with it. He tried not to laugh at her obvious awkwardness as he could tell that it was an honest and sincere attempt on her part. He could see that she was uncomfortable with this type of situation and to be honest he wasn't too keen on these types of situations as well. He decided he needed to take care of something that was bothering him.

"Thanks…I mean it," he paused as he took a deep breath, "Ummm…about earlier, in the corridor before…I said some things."

He took another deep breath and let it out, "I shouldn't have dumped on you like that. I had no right or expectation to do that."

Faith had a puzzled look on her face, "What're you talking about?"

"I want to say I'm sorry for ripping into you. You didn't deserve that."

Faith's eyes went wide in surprise as she wasn't use to this type of situation. Usually she was the one having to apologize for something she'd done or said and now she'd gotten two apologies from Paul in the last couple of days.

She found herself not sure of how to respond and she went with her gut, "It's okay…I guess we could have all handled the Dawn situation a bit better."

There was another long awkward moment of silence. Faith broke the silence again.

"So what are you going to do about Dawn?"

Paul let out a sigh, "I guess if she and Buffy agree, we would like to run some scans over her and maybe take a blood sample to study and see if there is something there that we can use, but only if they agree to it… I'm not going to force her into anything."

Faith let out a sigh of relief, "Thanks…I'm sure that they'll want to help as much as they can."

"What are you going to do about…?" she asked

"You mean the woman that looks like Sonia?"

Faith nodded and Paul let out another sigh as he responded, "I don't know. She's evidently military…I'll guess I'll wait until our two new guests are awake and have a discussion with them. Maybe we can use them to contact the authorities on your planet. Maybe it's time to talk to the people down there."

There was another long moment of silence, this time it was Paul who broke it.

"There was one question, you didn't ask?"

Faith was confused, "W-what question you talkin' about?"

"What about us?"

Faith immediately felt her heart beat faster and the room started spinning as she tried to catch her breath, "W-what about us?" she managed to spit out trying not to sound too panicked as she considered what Paul was asking and what Rachel had told her earlier.

"That's what I want to know…was last night a one-time thing or…" Paul stopped as Faith held up her hand, "What?" he asked a little confused.

Faith didn't know what to say as she didn't know how to explain what she was feeling. This was all new uncharted territory to her and she was honest to goodness afraid to hear what he thought of "them". She realized that he was staring at her, waiting for an answer. She finally decided on what she would say. She started to form the words in her mouth, "I-I want to—"

Her words were cut-off as alarms sounded through the ship.

Paul didn't hesitate as he rushed to his com panel and pressed the button to talk, "Bridge, Coleiro here, what's happening?!"

"Sir, we have a security incident in Medical. Something's wrong with one of those shuttle survivors. The male survivor attacked the medical and security staff."

Paul dreaded hearing the answer, but he had to ask the next question, "Casualties?"

"Three dead…four injured, sir."

Paul winced and heard Faith gasp behind him, "Status of intruder?"

"He's still somewhere on deck seven, sir. We've managed to isolate and seal the deck off. We have security teams blocking all access points above and below that deck."

"Evacuate that deck as best you can and make sure that all sensitive and restricted areas are sealed and locked down. Get reinforcements to secure Medical. Have Lieutenant Hanson oversee and co-ordinate ops from the bridge."

There was a long pause and for a second Paul wasn't sure that the bridge heard him.

"Sir…Lieutenant Hanson was one of the injured. The intruder was able to get a Gallant from one of security personnel. The…intruder…shot him. He was the one that raised the alert."

Paul closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, "What's his status?"

"Unknown, sir. One more thing, sir. First reports are kind of confused. The intruder is reported to not be human…"

Paul wasn't sure what was going on, but either way he had to deal with that situation, "I want security teams in full armour and fitted with heavy weapons. I want a security team to meet me at the stairwell to access section 7-3A, understood?"

"Yes, sir!"

Paul cut the channel and went to his desk. Faith watched as he opened a drawer and pulled out a weapon that was different from what she'd seen him and Cassie use before.

Paul checked the energy magazine on his Owens energy machine pistol, to make sure it was fully charged. He kept the older weapon as a souvenir even with the REF switching over to the Gallant. The machine pistol was still more than effective to take a person or alien down. He turned back to see Faith looking at him with a strange look on her face, "I've got to go." he said.

"I'm coming with you." she said with no hesitation.

Paul was about to open his mouth to argue for her to stay here, but then several thoughts converged in his mind at the same time. First, she was a Slayer and more than capable of taking care of herself and he was already shorthanded and could use all the help he could get. The second thing was the look on her face, he saw the stubborn determination there that she wasn't going to take a no for an answer — she almost had a look daring him to try and stop her mixed in with something else that he couldn't put his finger on.

He suddenly found himself surprised that even though he knew that she could take care of herself, _he_ didn't want her in danger, but then he saw the look on her face again and let out a sigh. He saw her smile as he sighed and shook his head slowly.

"You know better than to try and stop me, don't you." Faith said with a big grin.

"I don't need to be fighting on two fronts at the same time…you can come, but you stick to me like glue and you listen to me, understood?"

Faith rolled her eyes, "I promise to behave," but then a twinkle came to her eyes, "If I miss behave, you can spank me."

Paul stepped closer to Faith and she was caught off-guard by the serious look that came over his face and her grin faded.

"Please do this one thing for me…we don't know what we're dealing with. I c-ca—," he paused, "I don't want you to get hurt." he said in a gentle voice as he reached out and lightly touched her hair and face with his free hand.

His touch felt like electricity going through her body. She wanted to say something, but she found herself afraid to say anything at that moment. All she could do was nod her agreement with his request.

Paul smiled at her as she nodded, "Okay, let's go then."

Faith found herself wishing that she'd said something as they left his cabin.

**oOoOo**

Harper wandered through the empty corridors trying to move from cover to cover as he tried to orient himself to where he was. The wailing alarms finally cut-off and now there was only silence. He'd been lucky that the soldiers who he'd had the firefight with outside the hospital hadn't pursued him. They were too busy dealing with the mess he'd left behind.

He was more than impressed with the weapon he'd taken away from the guard he'd attacked in the hospital, but he had no experience or frame of reference in the operation of this weapon. He knew it was an energy-based weapon, but he had no idea how many shots he had left.

_No…I need something heavier and I need to find a sensitive area of this ship…somewhere I can cause real damage. My master expects this of me if I'm going to protect my family…_

Harper was surprised as he moved through the corridors and noticed signs providing directions to different areas. He couldn't believe that they were in English, but he didn't have time to think about the implications as he saw one of the direction signs with the words "ENGINEERING SECTION" on it. A small grin formed on the demon's face as he checked the corridor and headed off in the direction that the sign pointed.

**oOoOo**

Paul and Faith were heading down the stairs to deck seven, when they heard a voice call out from behind them. They both recognized the voice and turned to see Buffy flying down the stairs towards them.

"What's going on?! What's with the alarms?!"

"There's been an incident in the hospital." Paul said.

"What! Did something happen to Dawn?!" Buffy said in a shocked concerned voice.

"I don't know. One of the shuttle survivors attacked my people and is loose on the deck."

Paul could see that Buffy was getting worked up.

"I need to check on her…now!" Buffy demanded.

Paul wasn't going to back down, "We going to meet a security team and head to the hospital. We'll—"

"I need to see my sister…NOW!"

"Buffy…" Faith said stepping in to try and defuse the situation.

Paul didn't back down and he used his command voice to explain the situation, "We've got someone or something armed and running around on the deck. I've got three of my crew dead and another four injured. There's a security team on station in Medical and we'll head there first. My priority is to ensure the security of the ship and this crew…you understand me?"

Buffy's eyes went wide at hearing the casualty list, "I-I'm sorry I didn't know." She said taking a deep breath to relax.

It was at this moment that Giles and Willow showed up breathing hard as they had been running to catch up to Buffy.

"W-what h-happened?" Giles managed to ask between trying to catch his breath.

"There's been an attack in the hospital." Faith said.

"Dawnie! Is she…?" Willow asked in a concerned and scared voice.

"We're going to find out, if everyone will follow me." Paul said as he turned and started down the stairwell again towards his destination.

There was a security detail of ten soldiers in armor and heavily armed outside the bulkhead door that was the entrance to deck seven. The group was surprised to see Spike standing there pacing and looking anxious.

"About bloody time!" he said as he saw the arrivals.

Paul ignored the vampire as he went to the head of the security detail, "Leave two men here to secure the hatch and guard this point. You and the rest of your team will go with us to Medical. We'll reinforce and secure there."

"Yes, sir." replied the security team leader.

"You have a spare hand communicator?" Paul asked.

"Yes, sir."

Paul held his hand out and the team leader passed over the communicator. He opened the handset and pressed a key, "Bridge, this is the Captain."

"Bridge here, sir."

"Have another security team deploy to stairwell to access section 7-3B. They will enter the deck and proceed to Medical. Once there we will proceed to sweep the deck for the intruder. Understood?"

"Yes, sir. Team is enroute as we speak."

"Roger that. Any sightings or reports of the intruder?"

"No, sir."

Paul cut the link and looked at the assembled group around him. He could see the concern and worry in their faces, "Okay, we go in…the security team in four-man teams…we're between them."

He started to see looks of protest from Buffy and Spike, but he cut them off, "We do this by the numbers. We've got an armed intruder and I don't need anyone else shot. Okay…let's go."

The security team leader called the bridge and told them to open the bulkhead door. Everyone was tense as the door swung open and the armored troopers moved through quickly, taking up covering positions in the corridor. Everyone quickly filed out and as soon as the last person was in the corridor, the bulkhead door closed making a loud clanking sound as it locked. Paul nodded to the security team leader and he signaled three of his trooper to follow him and they started moving down the corridor towards Medical — on high alert swinging their weapons to cover areas as they moved.

For Buffy the minutes felt like hours as it seemed that they were moving at a snail's pace, she had to fight the urge to rush to the hospital and her sister. As they got closer to the entrance of the hospital, they saw evidence of what had happened. There were scorch marks on the armored corridor walls. They saw blood in the corridor by a communications panel and just outside the entrance. There was still a whiff of burnt flesh smell in the air filling the corridor.

One of the soldiers signaled everyone to stop and kneel down. Buffy found herself confused and felt frustrated that they were stopping so close to the hospital. It was only a moment, but then she saw one of the soldiers tap the side of his helmet and then motion everyone to stand up and move forward. At the same time the doors of the hospital opened up and two armed security personnel came out with weapons ready. Paul turned to face her, "You can go in now."

Buffy and the others didn't hesitate as they rushed into the hospital. She had a brief moment of panic, when she couldn't find Dawn in her bed, but one of the med-techs noticed her and told her where she could find her sister.

Buffy approached slowly and quietly as she didn't know what to say or react as she saw her sister sitting beside the bed with Lieutenant Hanson lying unconscious in it. She let out a deep sigh of relief to see that Dawn was conscious and appeared to look no worse for wear. Her gaze shifted to the Lieutenant and saw that his left arm was wrapped up in some sort of high-tech bandage that had connections running to a machine beside his bed. She looked at her sister again, her sisterly concern kicked in as she saw the look of worry and concern on her sister's face as she sat there.

"You okay?" Buffy asked quietly to try and not disturb the Lieutenant or startle her sister.

"I'm fine…a bit of a headache when I woke up and a lot of questions, but I'll be okay." Dawn said with a deep sigh.

"How's Lieutenant Hanson?"

"Aaron got shot…luckily it was a graze, but the med-techs said it was still a second degree plasma burn. They gave him something for the pain and to put him out while they repair the damage to the skin and muscle in his arm."

Buffy arched an eyebrow in surprise at her sister using the Lieutenant's first name and the tone she used when she said it. She filed that away for a later discussion, "Did you see what happened here?"

Dawn shook her head, without taking her eyes off Aaron, "No, I came too just as they were bringing Aaron in…his left arm was burnt and covered in blood. He was in so much pain, but he actually smiled at me and asked how I w-was d-doing. H-he w-was more concerned about m-me…" she said as her voice caught as she tried to keep her emotions in check as her mind replayed the memory. She took a deep breath before continuing, "H-he did give me a description of the creature that attacked him and the others, before they put him under."

Dawn quickly rattled off the description of what Aaron had seen all the while not taking her eyes off him.

"From the description that the Leftenant gave, it sounds like we have a Brachen Demon running around the ship." Giles said as they came closer as he, Willow and Spike had maintained a respectable distance from the two sisters.

"A Brachen Demon? I thought those buggers kept to themselves." Spike said questioningly.

"Yes, normally they're quite peaceful. They tend to keep to their own kind, but they have been known to interact and with humans and develop personal relationships, but it appears this one isn't one of those ones." Giles replied.

"I don't care what it is…" Dawn said as her voice took on a harder edge. She turned and Buffy and the others were surprised and shocked by the look of hate and anger that was burning in her eyes, "Buffy, whatever that thing is…I want you to find it and kill it…I want it dead!"

Buffy found herself speechless and all she could do was nod her head blankly as she turned with the others to go inform the Captain what they were facing. As they made their way back towards where the Captain and Faith were gathered with the security teams, Spike leaned in and whispered, "I think you've got bigger problems love than hunting down a demon."

Buffy was still a little off balance from seeing her sister that way, "What're you talking about?" she asked in a confused voice.

"It looks like little bit has gone and fallen in love with soldier boy there…"

Buffy let out a heavy sigh as she shook her head slowly trying to push having to deal with her sister's love life to the back of her mind for the time being.

**oOoOo**

Paul was briefing his security personnel, "Okay, we go in four-man teams and sweep each compartment on the deck. We don't know what we're dealing with, we know that's—"

"It's a Brachen Demon…" a voice said interrupting him.

Paul turned to see Buffy, Willow, Giles and Spike join the assembled group, "A Brachen what?!" he said in a confused voice.

"A Brachen Demon…your Leftenant Hanson gave Dawn a description of what attacked him and from the details, it looks like you have a Brachen Demon running around." Giles said.

"What can you tell us about this… Brachen Demon?" Paul asked in a voice that sounded not completely convinced with what he was facing.

"Well it sounds like this demon is a half-breed…half human, half demon, that's why he looked normal when you brought him on the ship. When they are human looking, they're just as normal as you or myself." Giles replied.

"And when they're not…human looking?" one of the soldiers asked.

"Their facial and skin appearance changes…their skin becomes green and their eyes turn red and they get spines covering their face as a form of protection. They're also faster, stronger and can take more damage to bring down. They can survive blows that are normally fatal to humans."

"And we've got one of those things running around the ship armed with an energy weapon…gr-great." another soldier responded.

"Okay, enough!" Paul said in a harsh voice, "We now know what we're dealing with…here's the plan. Two of you will remain here to reinforce security in Medical and this will be our base for OPS on this deck…that leaves us with four four-man teams to sweep the deck."

"It doesn't sound like enough…" Buffy said.

Paul looked at her, "Well we're a little short-handed…"

"Then you don't mind if Spike and I join in this hunt." Buffy said as recalled what her sister had asked for her to do.

Paul gave her a wry little smirk, "Thanks for the offer."

Buffy was caught by surprise by his quick acceptance of her offer as she had expected more resistance from him.

"Buffy, I want you to go with team one, your team will take the starboard side and move towards the stern. Spike is with team two, your team will take the port side and head towards the stern. Teams three and four will each take a side and move forward…"

"What will you and Faith be doing?" Spike asked questioningly.

"We'll be moving up the center slowly towards the stern. This demon was last seen headed down the corridor toward the starboard side, there's not much to access at the bow of the ship on this deck level, so that's why I want the majority of us to sweep to the stern. Once the bow teams have completed their sweep, they will double back and hook up with me in the center section and we can cover more of the compartments. There is a chance that the demon could have doubled-back, but we're also lucky that there are no weapons lockers or armories on this deck. If any team encounters the demon, contain and call for backup. He's armed so, contain first…"

"Do we take this demon alive?" one of the soldiers asked.

Paul didn't hesitate, "If it gives itself up without a fight then yes, but if it puts up any resistance…I'm not going to lose any more people to this creature, so you have authorization to use deadly force."

**oOoOo**

For Faith, this was slow going as her and Paul made their way towards the stern of the ship, searching and resealing compartments. She understood the need to check, but her Slayer senses were telling her that they were taking too long.

"Somethings not right…" she mumbled.

"What's not right?" Paul said stopping to turn and look at her.

"I don't know, but it doesn't feel right. So far we haven't seen or found this Brachen. Not that I'm in a rush…I was enjoying the break from fighting demons and vampires."

Paul smirked, "Well I was hoping that Spike would be my only pain in the ass, but to find that demon was a shuttle pilot. That may explain a lot…"

"Explain what?"

"There was no way in hell that they could be successful in their missile attack. We even warned them off, yet they pushed the attack despite no hope of actually…" Paul's voice faded as his mind went to work.

Faith saw the look on his face and knew that something was wrong, "What?" she asked concerned.

Paul didn't answer as he pulled out the hand communicator, activating it, "Bridge, Coleiro here."

"Yes, sir."

"When did you last talk to Engineering?"

"They reported in ten minutes ago."

"Shit!"

"Sir?"

"Implement over-ride safety protocols, NOW! Lock out Engineering and scram the Reflex furnace! Get all security teams to converge on Engineering right now! Get a hold of anyone in Engineering and get them to evacuate the compartment. If you can't talk to anyone and if there are any readings or alarms that go off with the engines…vent the compartment immediately! Do you understand?!"

The voice on the other end of the communicator sounded confused as they responded, "Yes, sir!"

Paul didn't wait for the response as he started sprinting. Alarms started going off.

"Shit!"

"WHAT'S WRONG?!" Faith shouted over the alarms.

Before Paul could respond a voice came over the PA system. "INTRUDER ALERT! WE HAVE AN INTRUDER IN ENGINEERING!"

"Shit!" Faith mumbled as she sprinted to catch up to Paul.

It didn't take long for Paul and Faith to reach one of the secure doors that led to Engineering. He could see that it had been forced open by someone or something with strength. He spoke into the communicator, "Bridge…status on Engineering?"

"Sir, Engineering is evacuating…they report that the intruder fired on them…three wounded. All controls have been secured and Reflex furnace has been shut down. Space fold system section is sealed and secured. The ship is on emergency power. Security teams are approaching other entrances."

"Good… It looks like our intruder accessed by forcing the door on entrance E4. I'm entering to investigate."

"Sir! I think you should—"

Paul didn't let the voice finish as he cut the channel. He saw Faith give him a look.

"What?" he asked.

"I thought I would never say these words, but don't you think we should wait for backup?"

Paul shook his head, "That demon may not be able to blow up the ship, but it can cause a lot of damage that we may not be able to repair the longer we wait."

Faith found it strange that she wanted to be cautious and not rush in, but Paul had a point. She didn't hesitate to follow him as he went through the entrance into Engineering.

**oOoOo**

Alarms wailed as Paul, with his Owens at the ready, moved slowly and quietly through the Engineering section. The problem was that there were too many places for someone to hide and lots of systems that someone could do damage to. He tried to put himself into his opponent's head.

_Okay…I don't know or recognize any of the systems in this room, but I know this is the Engineering section… I try and find systems that look familiar to what I'm used to…systems that I can use to cause catastrophic damage…_

Paul waved to catch Faith's attention to follow him as he headed deeper into Engineering. She nodded her understanding and followed him.

**oOoOo**

Harper was in awe and frustrated as he tried to stay in cover and the shadows as he moved through the Engineering section. He found himself in awe of the technology that he was looking at. He'd been with the Air Force and the space program for years which put him at the cutting edge of human technology, but all that looked like kiddie toys compared to what he was seeing here. He'd seen a sign say _"Space Fold System"_ and he found himself wishing he could learn from these people as it looked like they had the ability to cross the great distances between stars.

A part of him didn't want to do what his master had ordered him to, but his master had made it possible for him to hide his demon-half, so that he could follow his dreams of flying and going into space. Plus his master had made it painfully clear that he had no choice in the matter as his family would pay the price for his disobedience.

The frustration he was experiencing was also because of the level of technology that he was facing. He didn't recognize any of the systems and none of them looked like anything he could even compare with that he was familiar with.

_I feel like a bushman shown a whole bunch of electronic equipment I've never seen before and I'm asked to pick out the cell phone…_

Harper looked at the weapon in his hand. The design and functionality looked simple enough. He just had no idea what energy it used and the physic principals behind its operations.

_I don't even know how this weapon really works…all I can do is point and shoot. If I had more time, I could experiment and figure things out…_

The wailing alarms, echoing in his ears, ended any further thoughts on that subject and brought the important matter of how much time he had left. He thought he caught movement in the shadows, coming towards him.

**oOoOo**

Paul thought he heard something, but it was hard to hear over the wailing alarms as he moved towards the O2 and water systems. He turned his head for second to orient where Faith was. He was surprised as someone jumped out at him from the darkness. Paul reacted out of instinct and brought his weapon up quickly, but the creature was faster as he knocked his hand away. Paul lost his grip on his weapon and it flew out of his hand making a clattering sound as it landed out of his reach and sight.

Paul got a close up look of the Brachen Demon and he found himself slightly repulsed by the creature, which was saying a lot considering his exposure to a considerable number of different alien species back in his universe. His first instinct was to go for the face, but the spines covering the creature's face ended that idea. He aimed for the mid-section and heard the creature gasp as he landed a blow. He then saw the creature raise the Gallant in its other hand and Paul grappled with him trying to tie him up and get the weapon out of his hand. It was at that moment, as they were struggling with the weapon that Faith came up.

Faith had fallen a bit behind Paul as she stopped to check out an area for the demon. When she turned back around, she'd lost sight of him and she quickly followed in the last direction, she'd seen him go in. The alarms were still going loudly and her first indication that Paul was in trouble was when she turned the corner around some equipment and saw him and the Brachen demon struggling. She started to move towards them, that's when she saw the barrel of the Gallant in the demon's hand rising, pointing directly at her.

Paul saw the demon raising his arm and the Gallant. He looked into the demon's red eyes and could tell that Faith was in the line of fire. He poured every ounce of his strength to keep the demon's arm from rising, but he didn't have the right position or have any leverage as he struggled and grappled. He could feel the demon's arm start to tense to squeeze the trigger.

"FAITH!" Paul screamed as a feeling of utter helplessness ran through him as he knew that the weapon was about to fire.

Faith didn't hesitate as she heard Paul scream and dove out of the line of fire, behind some equipment. The weapon fired two plasma bursts striking the deck where she'd been standing only moments before.

Paul couldn't see what had happened to Faith as the weapon fired. The weapon fired twice and then he heard and felt the heat as an energy capacitor ejected from the weapon. He pushed the feeling of dread along with the horrible thoughts and images from his mind as he continued struggling with the demon. He heard and felt the demon squeeze the trigger again, but this time nothing happened.

"Out of shots, bastard!" Paul grunted as he struggled.

"I don't need it!" the demon said as he moved his arm suddenly inward striking Paul in the stomach with the Gallant causing him to gasp.

Paul staggered from the hit and his grip loosened for just a moment, which was just long enough for the demon to shift position quickly. Paul felt another blow catch him again in the stomach followed by a punch to the head. He saw stars and staggered. He tried to keep his hands up in a defensive stance. He took a swing at the demon, but forgot about the spines as he aimed for the demon's head. Pain shot through his hand as he felt the spines slash his fist. Before he could completely register that pain, he took another blow to his head and started falling to his knees.

Paul suddenly felt himself being lifted off the ground and was then suddenly flying through the air. His back registered the pain as he hit a bulkhead. He had a moment of clarity as he took in the whole scene. He didn't see Faith, which a part of his mind noted with relief. That moment ended as he fell to the ground his head bouncing off the armored deck. Paul again saw stars and then there was blackness.

Faith had recovered and was back on her feet. She warily peaked around the corner and saw Paul struggling with the demon. Before she could act, she saw Paul take several hard blows and then get thrown through the air into a wall, she saw him hit the floor hard. He wasn't moving.

She was stunned as she looked at Paul lying there unmoving. Time froze for her as she felt a wellspring of emotions erupt in her. Thoughts raced through her mind as she found herself trying to determine how badly Paul was hurt or if he was even alive. Everything — thoughts and emotions — coalesced in that moment and two feelings came to the forefront in a huge overwhelming rush. The first feeling was pain, the pain that something may have happened to Paul. The second feeling was hate — extreme hate — as she looked at the Brachen Demon and saw a smirk on his face as he thought that he only had a lowly female facing him.

Faith let out a scream of utter rage and fury as she charged the demon. There was no thought or concern in her attack. She was filled only with blinding rage as she attacked. The Engineering section was filled with screams that drowned out the alarms.

Security teams arrived quickly on scene, a large number of soldiers had to quickly look away or remove their helmets as they puked at the scene they found. Even Buffy when she arrived was taken aback by the level of violence that Faith used to kill the Brachen Demon. When she saw Faith kneeling by the Captain, who was unconscious and being looked at by several soldiers, she understood why.

**oOoOo**

Much later, two enlisted personnel were assigned the unenviable task of cleaning up the scene and checking for any damage to equipment. Both men had been warned of the scene and the smell, but they still found themselves unprepared to deal with what they had to clean up. Their arrival happened to coincide with the med-techs bagging and hauling away the remains of the demon.

As they cleaned up, they found themselves fighting back their gag reflexes. They tried to distract themselves, but the scene was too gruesome even though they had been in battles before and seen dead and wounded.

"I hear that the Captain is going to be alright." one of the enlisted men said trying to get his mind off the clean-up job.

"Yeah, I heard he took some shots and got thrown across the room. One of the med-techs mentioned that he had a concussion, but he was awake by the time they got him into Medical."

"That's good to hear."

There was an awkward moment of silence as both crewmen fought their gag reflexes to keep control.

"God, they should just vent the compartment…it would get rid of the mess and the smell."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I don't think I'll eat for a week."

"Please don't mention food right now."

"Sorry."

"If you think about it…this is pretty funny in a way."

The other crewman stopped his cleaning and turned and looked at his partner strangely, "Are you crazy?! I've never seen anything like this before in my life…not even in my worst nightmares!"

"Same here…it's just that I never thought that it was possible."

"What're you going on about?"

"It's just that when I was in basic training, my drill instructor used to scream at us whenever we did anything wrong or screwed up."

"Nothing strange about that…it's consider a job requirement."

"No...the yelling wasn't what I was taking about. It's just that my drill instructor used to threaten us that he would rip off our arms and beat us with them when we screwed up. I just never thought it was _actually_ possible to rip someone's arms off and beat them to death with them…"


	29. It's a surprise…

**CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE:**

**It's a surprise…**

"_…I remember having coffee with the Captain. Dawn and I were just starting our relationship together and I was pretty inexperienced with the whole relationship thing, both the emotional and physical aspects. I really had no one to talk to and I decided to ask him for any insights. After he stopped laughing, he gave me words of advice that I still live by to this day… _Know when you're wrong and be able to admit it… Being able to say 'I'm sorry' is just as important as being able to say 'I love you'… and it's the little things, each day that matter and add up._ He did add that if I was going to be with Dawn, then I would definitely have to watch myself because Buffy would probably hunt me down if I hurt her sister. I thought that the Captain was joking at the time, but there were times, when I was with Dawn, that I noticed Buffy giving me a strange look. I suddenly felt as if I was being stalked…_"

— Collected journals of Admiral Aaron Hanson

**oOoOo**

Riley tried to not be conspicuous as he walked through the park carrying a coffee, taking the occasional sip from it. He was dressed casually with a baseball cap and sun glasses on his head to hide his appearance. The body language he projected was of a guy just going out for an afternoon coffee and walk, but behind the sunglasses, his eyes were shifting back and forth looking for any threats or tails.

"You look clear…no tails." Samantha's voice came through his ear piece.

Riley nodded as he wasn't about to take any chances before he met up with his contact. General Coulson hadn't given him all the details, but he'd told Riley that this was a highly sensitive issue and to keep it quiet and off the radar. That's why he only had Samantha for backup, as he got closer to the rendezvous point.

He saw the man sitting at the park bench, looking relaxed as he ate a sandwich from his bag lunch. He looked like another park goer out enjoying the afternoon sun. Riley sat down at the bench and took another sip from his coffee, trying to maintain his relaxed look.

"It is a beautiful afternoon…" the man eating the sandwich said with a British accent.

"Uh-huh." Riley replied taking another sip from his coffee.

There was a long moment of silence as both men sat there, the man eating his sandwich and Riley drinking his coffee, as park goers walked, rode or jogged past them.

"Oh dear, I must get back to the office. I'm afraid I can't finish the other half of this sandwich. It is quite delicious," he said as he stood up leaving the lunch bag on the bench, "You know what they say about sandwiches…it's what's in the middle that makes it good or bad. Just be careful before you take a bite." Wesley Wyndam-Pryce said before turning and walking away.

Riley kept an eye out as he watched Wesley walk nonchalantly away. He waited a few more minutes and then stood up grabbing the lunch bag and making his way out of the park to a pre-arranged meeting point with Samantha. While he walked, he had to fight the temptation to look in the bag at the contents of what Wesley had left behind.

**oOoOo**

"I'm okay…will you stop hovering over me!" came an annoyed sounding voice as the door to Paul's cabin opened.

"I'm not the one that got himself thrown across the room by a demon!" came the response in a chiding concerned voice.

"Yes…I banged my head, I'm not crippled!" Paul said as he entered his cabin with Faith holding on to his arm to help steady him.

"Yes, you did and you're walking like you've just tied one on!" she responded with a look of worry and concern on her face.

"I'm fine…the med-techs said all I need is some rest."

"I was there! They wanted to keep you overnight for observation."

"And I told them that if they wanted me to rest, then I wanted to do it in my cabin in my own bed."

"Are you always this stubborn?"

"Pretty much… I've also been called hard-headed and a few other names. It's probably why I didn't do that much damage." Paul said with a smirk.

Faith let out a sigh while shaking her head slowly, "That wasn't funny…you scared the hell out of me! What were you thinking back there?"

"Hey, it's not like I planned to go and wrestle a demon!"

"How's the hand?"

Paul lifted his bandaged hand and flexed it as he opened and closed it several times making a fist, "See its fine…no problems."

"Liar, I saw you wince…"

"It's fine…I'm fine. The room is no longer spinning and see… I'm walking fine." he said as he walked across his room in a relatively straight line and sat down on the edge of his bed.

Faith looked at him skeptically as he smiled at her. She was finding it hard to deal with the emotions that she'd felt when she'd seen him get hurt, so for now she had pushed them to the back of her mind and just focused on making sure he was alright. It bothered her of how afraid she'd been and how much it had hurt when she'd had seen him lying there not moving, not knowing if he was alive or dead.

"M-maybe we should go back to the hospital…maybe they missed something."

"Will you stop worrying…I'm fine. I've had worse. You don't need to stick around."

Faith gave him a look, "The only reason they let you go, was I said I would keep an eye on you and you're not getting off that easily."

Paul saw the look of worry on her face. He'd heard about what she'd done to the demon after he'd gone down. It had surprised and shocked him as to how strong and violent she could get. But any misgivings were brushed away by how she'd stayed by his side and the look he was seeing in her face. He recalled that before this whole incident started, he'd asked her what was going on between them. He was tempted to ask the question again, but looking at her face and hearing the tone of her voice he already knew the answer. He found himself actually scared and nervous to be in a place he'd never wanted or expected to be in again. He didn't want to repeat the mistakes of the past, but at the same time he didn't want to push or rush Faith if she wasn't ready.

He stood up, a little slowly that caused Faith to look at him in concern, and moved closer to her. He looked down at her smiling at her to reassure her that he was okay. He didn't say anything at first as he brushed her hair and face gently with his hand. Neither of them blinked or looked away as they looked deeply into each other's eyes. The universe seemed to pause, as if it was holding its breath, waiting for what would happen next. Paul finally leaned in and lightly kissed Faith on the lips. He could feel the warmth from her lips as she responded to his touch.

He pulled away slowly, "I'm feeling much better now…honest."

She smiled at him, "Okay… If you'll excuse me." she said in a soft voice as she turned made her way to the bathroom.

Paul nodded as she went into the bathroom. He still had a headache and the room was still spinning a bit, but he felt steady on his legs. He sighed as he realized that Faith and the Med-techs were right and that he shouldn't push it right now as he sat down on the edge of the bed. He actually felt better sitting down as he heard water running in the other room.

"What do you want to do this evening?" Paul said in a loud voice over the sound of the running water.

His mind was on other things as the water turned off and bathroom door opened and a voice came from the doorway, "Only if you're feeling better…"

Paul was confused by her response, but that confusion only lasted for the split second as he turned his head and saw her standing in the bathroom doorway — she was naked except for her panties.

"Um…uh…" was all that he could say as he took in her body. His eyes studied and devoured her as the light from the bathroom only accentuated her body. His eyes took in every curve and detail…her hair, the tattoo on her arm, the scar on her abdomen.

She moved towards him in a slow manner that only highlighted and enhanced her grace and beauty, "For someone that's required to make quick important decisions, you seem suddenly a little slow." she said as a slow smile spread across her face as she crawled up on him pushing him back gently on the bed, straddling him.

He could see the hunger and want in her eyes as he felt the anticipation building inside him. He wanted to say something, but he found himself lost in her body and her eyes as he laid there looking up at her.

"Uh…"

"Hmmm…maybe we should take you back to the hospital for them to take another look at you." she said teasingly in a low seductive voice as she ran a finger down his chest leaning in closer.

"No ma'am!" he said softly. He could feel the heat from her body through his uniform and his own body start to respond as all his aches and pains suddenly faded away.

"That's good…" she said softly as she kissed him hungrily as she pressed her body against his.

**oOoOo**

Dawn hadn't realized she'd fallen asleep, until she heard someone calling her name. Her first inclination was to tell Buffy to leave her alone and let her sleep a little longer. As she became more awake, a part of her brain was telling her to wake up. She slowly opened her eyes, becoming aware of where she was and who was speaking to her.

"Hi there." Aaron said with a small smile on his face.

Dawn studied his face, it was still pale but he was getting color back. That he was awake and smiling were also both good indicators that he was doing better.

"How're you feeling?"

"Like I've been shot…" he said with a joking smile.

"That's not funny!" she replied as she recalled the pain she felt when she saw them bring him into the hospital.

"Sorry…" Aaron said sheepishly as his smile faded.

Dawn suddenly felt bad for snapping at him, she wanted to change the subject, "I know that you set off the alarm, but I didn't hear how or where you were shot."

"I was on my way down here to make sure you were alright, when that…thing came out of medical. I-I w-watched it kill the med-tech in f-front of m-me…there was n-nothing I-I could do…"

Dawn's eyes went wide and she felt a pain in her soul as she saw the pained guilty expression on his face. She felt her own guilt grow at hearing that her condition was the cause of him getting shot.

"There was nothing you could do but raise the alarm. You're lucky that it was only a graze." she said wrestling with her own guilt.

Aaron saw the change in her face, "What's wrong?"

"It's my fault that you got shot! If I hadn't collapsed on the bridge, you wouldn't have had to come down here and then you wouldn't have got shot!" she babbled out trying not to cry.

Aaron heard the concern and guilt in her voice. When he'd first awoken and saw Dawn asleep in the chair, he watched her sleep. He took pleasure in studying her face watching her nostrils flare lightly. He found himself watching how her chest moved up and down as she breathed. He tried not to laugh as she snorted in her sleep and saw the drool form in the corner of her mouth. He found himself wondering what it would be like to run his fingers through her hair and hold her tight against him. He found himself feeling a sense of contentment and happiness that he'd never experienced before.

"It's not your fault that I got shot! The only fault here is with that demon…and its dead now." he said in a forceful tone that even surprised him.

Dawn found herself surprised and a little excited to see this more assertive side of Aaron. A thought of her previous curiosity about handcuffs flashed through her mind and she suddenly had to fight the urge not to blush. She saw Aaron looking at her quizzically and she quickly shook off where her imagination was taking her, "Yeah, you're right."

Aaron was still a little puzzled by the look she had on her face, but he gave up trying to figure what that was about as he wanted to move on to a more important subject.

"Did they find out what happened to you? What caused you to pass out a-and g-glow?"

Aaron had been giving it a lot thought before and after getting shot and he'd decided that whatever Dawn decided to tell him, he was okay with it. After getting shot and seeing her concern when he was brought in and then watching her sleep, it just reinforced the feelings he had developed for her. He was pretty certain he could deal with whatever she told him.

While Aaron was thinking positively, Dawn was on the other hand dreading what to tell him. The medical staff had no idea what had caused her to collapse and glow like a firefly, but she had a suspicion of what was behind it. She wasn't sure what had happened or if it would happen again, but a part of her knew that her being The Key was the reason for what had happened. She couldn't explain the feeling but it was something deep inside her that was screaming that something had happened — was happening — and she could feel a sense of dread slowly creeping through her.

She looked at Aaron's face and pushed that dread feeling back down as she dealt with the mixed emotions and feelings that were now threatening to burst out of her. She debated with herself as to whether tell him the truth about who and what she was. A voice in her head was telling her to lie and hide the truth, because Buffy and Giles had told her to never tell anyone about what she was and if she did tell him then he would look at her like some kind of freak.

As she kept looking at him, she realized that she didn't want to — _couldn't_ — lie to him. He deserved to know the truth about her. She found herself caring deeply for him and she'd rather him know now what she was rather than him finding out later on by accident or from someone else and have him mad at her for lying to him. If she was going to have her heart broken, she'd rather do it now rather than later.

"There's something I need to tell you…" she started off with.

Aaron sat there as Dawn told him everything about who and what she was and what had happened to her. He listened quietly as she explained everything, at times trying not to cry. When she finished, he stayed quiet for what seemed like an eternity as it all sank in as he tried to process it.

Dawn took his silence as a bad sign and started to get up, "I'm sorry… I wanted you to know the truth about me. I-I c-care about you and thought you deserved to know. I-I understand if you don't want to see me again." she said trying to keep her emotions in control long enough to get outside the room before she started crying.

"Where're you going?" Aaron asked in a stunned voice.

"I-I thought you wouldn't want to be around me…" she said shakily.

"Did I tell you to leave?"

"Well no…"

"Then why are you leaving?" he said as a smile came to his face as he made his decision and knew that it was the right and best one he would ever make.

It took a moment for it to sink in, but as Dawn saw him smile she felt her heart start beating faster and sense of happiness and joy that she couldn't put into words. She literally jumped on Aaron to hug him.

"ARM! WATCH THE ARM!" he shouted in pained surprise as she tried to hug him.

"Sorry!" she said with a sheepish look on her face as she realized in her excitement that she'd forgotten about his injury.

Aaron nodded and slide over to let Dawn curl up with him on his right side. She didn't hesitate as she snuggled into his arm looking at him with a huge smile. They looked at each other for what felt like another eternity, before Aaron moved his head closer to hers. Dawn closed her eyes as they kissed. It may have looked like an awkward first kiss to the outsider, but neither one of them cared.

**oOoOo**

Commander Schmidt was at his engineering station staring at his screen until the data was just one big blur. He was going over again the sensor and scanning data. He was finally putting a data model together using information that the sensors collected. He was a little pissed off over the delay that the intruder had caused, but he was pleased that the creature had been stopped before any serious damage had been done and that none of his crew had been seriously wounded or killed.

As soon as he finished compiling all the information, he started the program. He had no idea how long it would take as the amount of data he had plugged into the program was immense. As the program ran, he sat back and tried to relax, drink some coffee and rub his tired eyes.

He opened his eyes — he hadn't realized he'd dozed off — when he heard his computer notify him that the program was complete. He pressed the console to display the results and as soon as the first results appeared, he got a sinking feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. He activated the communications panel.

"Bridge…Commander Schmidt here."

"Yes, sir."

"Can you scan sector 128 by 212."

"Yes, sir. Can you standby for a moment?"

There was a pause as Schmidt waited anxiously for the response.

_Please be wrong…_

The voice came back on the channel, "Sir, we show nothing in that sector of space."

Schmidt let out a small sigh of relief, but that still didn't get rid of his feeling of dread, "Keep scanning that area and if anything…and I mean anything appears I want to know ASAP. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!"

Schmidt tried to relax as he waited. He kept hoping that he was wrong or that the data he'd entered into the program was wrong or off. It was nearly five hours later, when the bridge called. The feeling of dread grew exponentially as the bridge reported to him.

"Sir, less than five minutes ago, we started picking up signals at those designated co-ordinates. We've identified it as debris from the Vanguard!"

Schmidt felt his stomach drop away at the news that was starting to confirm his data model.

"Sir…should we inform the Captain?"

Schmidt sighed as he knew that he needed more evidence to confirm what he suspected along with the size of the effect, "No…I'll inform the Captain myself. What I need you to now do is scan the following co-ordinates and notify me the second you detect anything in those areas. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!"

Schmidt quickly rattled off a series of different space co-ordinates that would help him confirm and plot the spatial effect that he thought was occurring. As he cut the channel with the bridge, he tried to relax, but he was too much on edge as he started pulling up the sensor data again and reviewed his data modelling program to make sure that he hadn't made a mistake.

_Please god…let me be wrong…_

**oOoOo**

Faith lay with her head on Paul's chest. She listened to his heart beating as she tried to deal with the tangled mess of emotions that she was feeling. The little voice was still trying to shout out — trying to be heard — for her to leave, but it was fading away. She let out a deep sigh as she tried to figure out what she was feeling and what she should do.

"You okay?" he asked as he heard her sigh.

"Just thinking."

"Anything I should know about or can help with?"

"No…" she said somewhat abruptly.

"Something wrong?"

"No…can we leave it at that!" she said with an irritated tone.

There was a long pause, before Paul spoke again, "It's about us, isn't it?"

Faith let out a deep sigh, "I said to leave it alone!"

"Why?"

She found herself at war within herself. A part of her wanted to tell him what she was feeling, but at the same time, her past and all the baggage she was carrying was telling her that she wasn't capable of and didn't deserve any happiness. She found herself in a situation that she was finding herself ill-equipped to deal with as she laid her head back on his chest trying not to think about what Paul had asked her and what she was feeling as she tried to lose herself in the sound of his heartbeat.

"Please, can we just not talk about this right now?"

Paul sighed. He knew he had a choice. His instinct was to push hard and force the issue and get it out in the open, but he heard the tone in her voice. He realized if he forced her, he would end up pushing her away.

"Okay…you win." he said hearing her let out a sigh of relief.

They laid there in silence for a while, neither one of them could sleep as they were each wrapped up in their own thoughts. Faith was caught by surprise when Paul started to get out of bed.

"What's wrong?" she asked worried that he was angry over her wanting to avoid "the" conversation.

"Nothing…go get dressed." He said as he picked his uniform off the floor and started pulling it on.

She was a little confused as she got out of bed and started looking for her panties, before retreating to the bathroom where the rest of her clothes were. When she came out, she saw Paul just getting off his communications panel.

"…Thanks Chief. We'll be down in less than ten minutes."

Faith was now really puzzled, "What's going on?"

She was taken off-guard as Paul smiled at her.

"It's a surprise…let's go." he said taking her by the hand as they left the cabin.

As they made their way to the elevators, Faith's curiosity was building inside and it was starting to bother her, "Come'on, where're we going?"

Paul didn't give anything away as he kept his face looking blank, "Deck ten…and I'm not going to ruin the surprise."

She gave him a funny look as they exited the elevator heading down the corridor. Faith recognized where they were headed, "Why are we headed for the hanger bay?"

Paul didn't say anything, but she saw him smirk as they got closer.

"If this is some sort of lets have sex in the hanger or your fighter, I'm all for it, but no need for all the suspense." Faith said with a smirk hoping to get some clue as to what was going on.

Paul kept smirking as they reached the hanger bay door. Faith was caught by surprise as the door opened and Chief Larson exited the hanger bay.

"Captain…Faith." Larson said with a big smile and nod as she passed by the couple.

"Thanks Chief. Have a good night."

"You too, sir. Hope you enjoy it Faith." Larson replied still smiling.

Faith just nodded as she found herself momentarily speechless and unsure of what was happening. She looked at Paul, getting a big smirk in reply.

"Come on my lady, your chariot awaits you." he said holding out his arm to let her enter the hanger bay first.

Faith shrugged as she had no idea what he was going on about, but she was willing to play along, walking into the hanger bay. The bay was lit up, but it was empty which surprised her. Her first thought was that maybe Paul wanted to get his freak on in here.

"This way." Paul whispered in her ear as he came up and lightly grabbed her arm to lead her across the deck.

They didn't go far. When they stopped, Faith blinked as she couldn't believe what she was looking at, "I-Is t-that for me?!" she said almost squealing in excitement.

"Yup…this is the VR-041 Saber Cyclone armed with the Close Assault and Defense System. I figured the CADS blades would be more your style." Paul said taking in and enjoying her excitement as he watched her jump on the motorcycle.

Faith looked over the controls of the Cyclone. She'd driven her fair share of bikes, so some of the controls looked similar, but others she had no idea what they did. She could feel her heart start beating faster in anticipation of taking this bike for a spin. She was suddenly hit with a thought that pushed through her excitement.

"Why?" she asked looking at Paul.

He smirked, "Can't a guy do nice things for his—"

She cut him off before he finished the sentence, "I thought we put this conversation on hold." she said giving him a not too happy look, "This isn't some sort of gift to thank me for the sex…not that I'm complaining about getting a bitchin' ride."

Paul snorted, "It's just a saying…" he said with a shrug and sigh, "I'm actually taking care of some business by giving you this Cyclone."

"How?"

"Lieutenant Evans informed me that a number of your Potentials have expressed an interest in becoming fighter pilots…"

Faith arched an eyebrow in surprise at hearing this.

"I'm going to give her the go ahead to let them join the training. That got me thinking and I think giving you something like this would give you an advantage, but there is one big string attached…"

Faith rolled her eyes at hearing there were conditions attached, "Isn't there always."

Paul shook his head, "This 'bitchin' ride' as you put it, is unlike any vehicle you've ever driven before. You're going to learn how to use it properly so you become an even more effective weapon with it. Sergeant Bronowski will be overseeing your training here on the hanger deck and in the simulator training room."

It was Faith's turn to snort, "How hard is that going to be?"

Paul laughed, "I was going to tell you, but I think I'll let you enjoy that experience."

Faith rolled her eyes again, Whatever…I'm sure it'll be a snap. When do I start this training?"

"Tomorrow."

"Are you going to give Buffy one of these too?"

"I'll talk to her tomorrow…this right now is just your moment." Paul said with a smile as he moved closer to Faith still sitting on the Cyclone.

"Can I start her up?" Faith asked expectantly.

Paul got a bigger smile at seeing her excitement, "Go ahead… might as well. Just keep a handle on it as you don't want to smack into the hull or a bulkhead."

He quickly showed her how to start the Cyclone and the engine filled the hanger bay with its roar. He made sure to point out which levers and buttons not to push for the time being. She quickly roared down the deck. He wasn't sure, but he thought she was yelling louder than the motorcycle as she turned around and came speeding back. At the last moment she slammed the brakes on, coming to a screeching stop beside him.

"This is wicked!" she half-shouted as she revved the engine.

"You're welcome…" Paul said, but his voice was drowned out by the engine.

"Did you say something?"

Paul shook his head while rolling his eyes, "Nothing."

Faith cut the engine, sitting there savoring the moment, she looked at Paul with a sheepish smile on her face, "I-I don't know what to say…"

"Usually the words, thank-you are involved."

"Yeah…thanks. I mean it…not many people have given me gifts like this without wanting something from or wanting to do something to me…"

Paul sighed as he understood where she was coming from. His own experiences of living on the streets had taught him the hard way that no one ever gave you something without conditions or a price to be paid.

"The only condition is that you take the training…you don't even have to have sex with me anymore if you don't want to…if that makes you feel better." he said with a shrug.

Faith reached out and grabbed the front of Paul's uniform pulling him close, "Yeah…no…that's not going to happen." she said in a low voice with a smirk on her face.

Paul didn't resist and couldn't help himself as a smile came to his face. "Well…only if you insist." He said looking deep into her eyes.

"Yeah, I insist." she said kissing him hard.


	30. I was born ready…

**CHAPTER THIRTY:**

**I was born ready…**

"_…Coleiro's decision to open up flight training to the Potentials is seen in hindsight as a major tactical decision that would reap huge benefits years down the road. At first, he only expected a couple of the young women to take advantage of the training. The number that did eventually ask to join did cause some minor friction at the time between him, Buffy Summers and Giles Rupert. Even years later, there is still speculation if his decision was fortuitous or if he was being guided by a higher power based on later events. He is on record as explaining his decision as one that "_seemed like a good idea at the time_"... It is hard not to stress the impact that the later release of the essence of the Slayer had on those Potentials that stayed with the Arcadia. Their "awakening" after the Cleveland Hellmouth incident, back on Earth, came at a critical time in galactic events. Before the awakening they were already on their way to becoming good fighter pilots…afterwards they were great. It is no surprise that they were later referred to as 'Death's Mistresses' by friends and foes alike…_"

— Colonel {retired} Megan Blair, _The Official History of Skull Squadron_

**oOoOo**

Megan tried to project a calm and controlled exterior, but inside she was fighting against the fear, confusion and a growing sense of panic as she found herself being escorted down a corridor by four heavily armed soldiers wearing a type of body armor she'd never seen before.

She was still trying to come to grips with everything that had been dropped on her since she'd regained consciousness. She had at first thought that somehow she was back on Earth in a hospital, it was only when she got more of her senses back and saw the unfamiliar uniforms, the strange equipment and then the armed guards that she realized she wasn't on Earth. She was still trying to deal with the fact that she was on the alien ship and trying to figure out how she would communicate with them, when one of the hospital personnel approached her and spoke perfect English.

Now she found herself being escorted, who knows where to face who knows what and she was fighting to keep her composure. She had tried to ask about Harper and Hodge, but all she got were non-responses and in some cases she got some outright hostile looks. She'd been confused by a visit by a middle-aged looking man with glasses accompanied by three young women that had to be in their early twenties. The blonde and the red-head looked her over with an almost curious look, but it was the brunette that caused her to pause. The brunette gave her a look that caused her to shudder as it was a mix of curiosity and she couldn't be sure but it almost looked like jealousy — like stay away from my boyfriend or I'll kill you type of look.

_I haven't seen that look since high school_, she'd thought at the time.

The group of them had looked her over and spoke amongst themselves. Megan had tried to ask questions, but they ignored her. What surprised her was the red-head had said some phrases in what sounded like Latin and paused as if they were waiting for something to happen. Megan could have sworn she'd seen a look of disappointment cross the brunette's face that nothing happened. That group left and it wasn't long after that the guards had arrived to escort her.

**oOoOo**

Paul fought the urge to get up and pace as he waited for his "guest" to arrive at the conference room. After the earlier incident, he had his medical personnel run every scan they had to make sure that this person was indeed human and not another demon. He'd even enlisted Giles, Willow along with Buffy and Faith to do whatever they could to make sure that the woman was human.

Everything indicated that the woman was human, but Paul wasn't going to take any chances. He had a ten man security detail in full Cyclone armor standing by and he'd also made sure that he had his Owens in an easy and quickly accessible spot, if he needed it. Actually what was bothering wasn't if the woman was a demon, that would actually be easier to deal with than if she was who she looked like.

Any further doubts or fears were pushed aside as the conference room door opened and the woman marched in followed by her escorts.

**oOoOo**

Megan felt a sense of relief as the door opened and she found herself entering a conference room. She saw the man sitting at the end of the conference table, she quickly took note of him and tried to get a sense of who and what he was.

She had a passing thought as she studied the man, _Whoever he is…he's the man in charge…_

She was brought out of her thoughts as the man spoke, "Please sit."

Megan decided that she'd had enough of being the passive prisoner. She had no idea what was going on or what was going to happen to her, but she was tired of being in the dark, "I demand to know who you are and that you release me or at least allow me to contact my government. Until then I'm only required to give you my name rank and serial number… Captain Megan Blair… United States Air Force… 399-04-0924."

She was a little surprised by a look of shock that seemed to pass over the man's face, but it quickly passed.

_Damn! It sounds exactly like her_, Paul thought as he quickly recovered from his shock.

"At ease Captain…I'm not going to ask you anything top secret or about your planet's military deployments." he said in a somewhat firm tone.

"Blair…Megan…Captain…399-04-0924."

Paul shook his head as he heard and recognized the same stubbornness that had been in his Sonia. He decided to take a different tack, "Captain Blair…Megan is it? Can I ask you a non-military question?"

Megan was a little taken aback by this man's attempt to interrogate her as it seemed somewhat unorthodox. She didn't respond as she'd been trained to not provide any details that would give an interrogator an opening.

"Is your middle name Elizabeth?"

Paul could read this woman's face as it may not have been his Sonia, but she had a lot of the same tells that he could read.

"You got that off my ID tags…"

"Elizabeth was your grandmother's name…on your mother's side." Paul tried to keep the smirk from forming on his face as he saw that he had scored another point, "That means your father chose your name."

He saw the look of shock cross her face and this time he couldn't help it as a smile broke across his face.

"You drugged me! You read my mind?!" she said in a shocked voice.

"Rest easy Captain, we're not mind readers and we haven't drugged you. Let's just say I have a unique perspective." Paul said as he stood and walked towards the stunned looking woman.

Megan didn't know what to think as the man stood up and walked over to her, she got a closer look of the man. She picked up a certain vibe off him. She saw his dark eyes and she knew that he'd seen combat and death before. She was suddenly struck by the funny feeling that she'd met him somewhere before, but she would definitely remember meeting a man like this.

"I'm Captain Paul Coleiro…I'm commander of this ship, welcome aboard the REF Cruiser Arcadia." he said holding his hand out.

**oOoOo**

Paul sipped on his coffee as he enjoyed a break in the cafeteria with Faith. He looked around and was surprised to see Lieutenant Hanson and Dawn Summers at one of the tables. Even with his arm still bandaged and in a sling, his First Officer had a big smile on his face, listening as Dawn seemed to be talking up a storm. At another table he saw Xander and Lieutenant Evans. They were holding hands across the table and sharing small talk with Evans occasionally smiling and laughing. He recalled passing Sergeant Bronowski on the way in, he was leaving the cafeteria in the company of a blonde that the Captain remembered being one of the wounded from the planet.

Paul turned his attention back to Faith and caught her looking around the cafeteria too. Looking back at him, she gave him a smirk, "It looks like you've got yourself a regular Love Boat going on here, Captain Stubing." she said.

He didn't understand all of the references, but he still laughed at her joke, but then was a little surprised at the change on her face as it became serious, "What's wrong?" he asked.

"How did it go with…umm?"

"You mean Captain Blair…and her first name is Megan if that makes you feel better."

Faith didn't respond, but Paul heard her let out a small sigh of relief, "It went as well one could expect for trying to explain that she was on a ship from an alternate universe." he continued.

"What about the nukes and the demon that was aboard the shuttle?" Faith asked.

"She says she doesn't know anything about any demons among her shuttle crew and she swears that she didn't hear our warning message."

"Yeah, right." Faith said rolling her eyes.

"She seemed honestly shocked to hear that one of her crew was a demon that attacked my crew."

Faith rolled her eyes again, "So what're going to do with her now?"

Paul scratched his head, "I haven't thought that far ahead, but I'm thinking that we can use her to make contact with the government…when we're ready. For now, we'll put her on the same deck as you and the others."

He saw her start to say something, but he cut her off, "Yeah, I know what you're going to say…how can we trust her? She's not a prisoner and we have to start building some trust for when we do make contact, plus I already have security on that deck and you and the others can keep tabs on her as well."

Paul could see that she still wasn't convinced, so he decided to change the subject, "When are you going to start your training with Sergeant Bronowski?"

"We're scheduled to go later this afternoon after the…" Faith's voice trailed off.

"Yeah…we've got the memorial service for those killed by the demon." Paul said as his voice took on a somber tone.

Faith saw the change on his face and she felt a stab of worry, "You going to be okay?"

"Yeah…It's never easy losing people that you're responsible for. It comes with the rank and they deserve to be remembered…there's nobody else besides us that will remember them." Paul said as memories of other battles and people he'd lost came back in a rush.

He was caught off-guard as he felt Faith grab his hand and squeeze it, bringing him back to the moment, "They won't be forgotten." she said with a tight smile looking into his eyes.

Paul gave her a half-smile and nod in response. He quickly finished his coffee and stood up, "I have to go change uniforms for the service. I'll see you there?"

Faith nodded, "You'll stop by later to check out on how I master the Cyclone?"

He snorted as a bigger smile grew across his face, "Yeah, I'll be by to check out your training. I'm looking forward to that."

She wasn't sure, but from his tone Faith thought that Paul was having a laugh at her expense.

**oOoOo**

Xander and Cassie were walking quietly holding hands. They were returning from the memorial service for those crew members that had been killed by the Brachen demon. It had been a somber affair, but Xander noticed that Cassie seemed to be taking it quite hard. He was trying to figure out the best time to talk to her, but finally gave up as he realized that there would be no perfect time, so he dived right into it.

"What's wrong?" he asked in a quiet voice.

Cassie shook her head trying to brush off the question, "Nothing…I'm okay."

"I think I can tell if you're upset. Did you…know one of the people?"

"No…I didn't know any of them."

"Then why—" Xander started to ask when the realization hit him, "This is about your ship and crew, isn't it?"

He saw the sad look come across her face as she nodded shakily. He saw that she was close to losing it. He didn't hesitate as he pulled her close and held her tight as she cried softly into his chest. They stood there for a long time as he held her and rocked her. She finally pulled away, looking at him. Xander saw the red-rimmed eyes and he couldn't believe how vulnerable and beautiful she looked at that moment. He kissed her gently on the forehead as she sniffed.

"Damn…you're beautiful even when sniffling." he said softly looking into her eyes.

This elicited a snort followed by a small smile from Cassie, "You're such an ass-kisser aren't you?"

"Only yours…" Xander said with smirk as he leaned in again. This time he lightly kissed Cassie on the lips and he could feel a jolt going through his body which caused him to pull her closer.

He finally let her go, but it was only out of reluctance, "You doing anything tonight?" he asked finding it hard to keep the desire out of his voice.

Cassie smiled a little nervously as she knew what Xander wanted and she wanted it too, "No…I've got training this afternoon, but the Captain said to keep it light and easy today and tomorrow. I figure we'll just work in the simulators. What're you doing today?"

"Chief Larson has got everyone on light duties too. She did give me the scoop on a bit of interesting news…"

Cassie found herself interested in hearing some gossip, "What?"

"It looks like the Captain gave Faith one of those Cyclone bikes…she's supposed to start her training this afternoon. I was going to swing by to watch. The Chief said it should be entertaining."

Cassie couldn't help herself as she laughed as the mental image formed in her head, "God, I wish I could be there to watch!"

Xander shrugged, "What's the big deal? She knows how to ride bikes and fight…how is this any different?"

Cassie shook her head, "I think you should ask the Chief on that. I have to go change back into my flight suit and get ready for my training class."

She saw the confused look on his face, "Just go watch and you'll see."

**oOoOo**

Faith tried to keep her smirk from growing into a full smile as she made her way down the corridor towards the hanger deck. She was wearing a tight fitting REF uniform and even with the Cyclone armor on, she cut quite the figure as she drew looks from both male and female crew members as she passed by them.

Paul had helped her get into the proper attire for this training. For now she carried her helmet as she made her way to the hanger bay where the Sergeant was going to meet her. She thought that all this was going a little overboard as she didn't think that she needed all this "safety gear", but as a compromise, she had put her hair into a ponytail, so she could wear her helmet.

She entered the hanger bay and was surprised to see a small gathering of people, including Chief Larson and Xander, off to the side — almost as if they were there to watch her. Faith suddenly felt a little self-conscious as she recognized the Sergeant and made her way over to him. She noted that the Sergeant was also in full armor standing beside two Cyclones.

"Nice of you to join me…Miss Lehane."

"Faith…you can call me Faith." she said with a smirk and shrug.

"Okay…Faith. You ready to learn how to properly use a Cyclone." Lionel asked giving his student a look over.

"I was born ready. But isn't all this armor kinda overkill."

Lionel closed his eyes and counted to ten. He knew that she wasn't military and the Captain had asked him as a "favor" to instruct her on how to use a Cyclone, "The armor is so that you can switch your Cyclone from motorcycle mode to Battloid mode. Parts of the motorcycle will mate to your armor during transformation. Once in Battloid mode, you will find that your strength and mobility are increased and enhanced."

"So I'll be even stronger?"

"Yes, it acts as a power armor system that will allow you to jump higher, run faster and you will be able to fly and hover using the bike's thrusters."

"Sweet…" Faith said with a big smile forming on her face.

"The important thing to remember is to never and I mean NEVER engage the transformation process unless you are wearing the armor and your helmet. You understand me?" Lionel said in a firm tone.

Faith nodded her understanding.

"Okay, I understand that you've driven motorcycles before, so I think we can skip the basics… I going to show you what all those other controls are for and how they will keep you alive." Lionel said as he signaled for Faith to come closer.

He went over each lever and button and what it did. He explained all the system indicators and the targeting display and radar. He repeated what everything did and then had her repeat it back to him until he was satisfied.

"Your Cyclone can run on normal gasoline or the Protoculture energy cell when in motorcycle mode. It's recommended to use the gasoline engine as much as possible when in motorcycle mode to extend the life of the energy cell. When you're in Battloid mode you're using only your Protoculture energy cell." Lionel said.

"So how long do these energy cells last?" Faith asked.

Lionel smiled, "Good question…you can get about two months out of your energy cell…that's constant combat and riding. If you use your thrusters for flight, it will deplete the cell faster, Plus the CADS weapon system on this particular model also uses Protoculture to engage the high frequency energy field."

"Can I use the blades without using the high frequency whatzit?"

Lionel closed his eyes again and counted, then opened them again looking at his "student" as she gave him a smirk, "Yes, you can disengage the energy field and just use the blades in normal mode, but they won't be able to cause as much damage."

"How much damage can they cause?"

"These blades can open up a mecha like a can opener. There's nothing that I know of that these blades can't cut through." Lionel said.

"Cool…what other surprises does this bad boy have?" she asked with a gleam of anticipation in her eyes.

"Well there is the GR-103 mini-missile launcher that's in the nose of the Cyclone. When in Battloid mode, the launchers are in your chest and shoulders…" Lionel stopped as he saw Faith trying not to laugh.

"Am I amusing you?"

Faith tried and was failing to contain her laughter, "Guys always tend to look at my chest first, now it's considered a lethal weapon…"

Lionel shook his head slowly, rubbing the temples of his head to keep the growing headache away. He saw his student get some control and he continued on, "The launcher carries twelve armor piercing missiles. You can use the launcher in both motorcycle and Battloid modes. For now your Cyclone isn't loaded with missiles…you can activate the targeting system and launcher for a simulated launch."

"Well what're we waiting for, let's fire this bad boy up and dance!" Faith said with an excited anticipating smile.

"Hold your horses…I know you're eager, but you need to know the most important part about using this equipment and switching to Battloid mode."

"What's the big deal…I press a button and presto…instant Super-Slayer!" she said expressing her frustration at how long this training was taking.

"Okay…you think you know it all…let's start up the Cyclone and ride around the hanger deck to get the feel and when you're ready press the transformation button." Lionel said with a smirk.

Faith wasn't sure how to interpret the Sergeant's look as she got a feeling that he was expecting something to happen. She quickly shrugged the feeling off as she jumped on her bike. She easily started the engine and the hanger deck filled with the roaring sounds of Cyclone engines being powered up.

Faith shot down the deck, like a bat out of hell with Lionel keeping a close — but safe — distance from his student. She could feel the power between her legs as she went faster this time, doing quick stops and spins to get a better feel for the bike. She reached the end of the deck as she turned around to head back, she noticed a person entering the hanger deck. She remembered what the Sergeant had drilled into her about her helmet optics and she quickly zoomed in and could see it was Paul coming to watch her — like he promised.

A smile came to her face as she gunned the throttle and held the brake as the rear wheel spun and squealed against the deck plating.

_Time to show them how to do this…_

Faith let go of the brake and the Cyclone shot down the deck. In a flash she was already at the halfway point. The smile was still on her face as she hit the transformation switch…

It was a good thing that she was wearing full armor as she felt the bike start to shift around her, then suddenly she was flying and sliding along the deck. She finally came to a stop and slowly stood up feeling her muscles ache from the spill. She looked back at her Cyclone and was greeted with the sight of something that had no resemblance to a motorcycle.

Faith walked slowly back to the "thing" that was her bike as Sergeant Bronowski rolled up slowly on his bike with his visor up and a huge smirk plastered across his face. She stood there looking at the misshapen grotesque looking motorcycle that laid there as if it was taunting her. Paul came up, standing beside her as she kept staring at the Cyclone.

"Don't' say it!" Faith said brusquely lifting her helmet visor up still looking at her Cyclone. She could hear the people that had gathered, off to the side to watch, talking and smiling amongst themselves.

"I wasn't going to say a thing…" Paul said in a plain tone but then a small smile came to his face, "But if I was going to say something… I would first ask if you're alright…then I would make a comment about the mess you have there and then I would ask if you want some help…"

He saw Faith clench her armored clad hands into fists and after a moment saw them unclench as she let out a deep sigh.

"Okay…what did I do wrong?" she asked sheepishly looking at Paul.

**oOoOo**

Feeling a little more humble this time, Faith didn't have a smile, but she had a determined look on her face as she revved the throttle on her Cyclone. Paul and Sergeant Bronowski, after returning her Cyclone to motorcycle mode, explained to her what she had to do during the transformation process and the importance of her helmet or "thinking cap" as they also called it. They explained that Robotechnology was more than just flipping levers or pushing buttons. They explained it was a merging between man and machine — you had to think the machine through the transformation as it reacted to your thoughts.

It had sounded like magic to her, but she admitted that when she hit the transformation lever, she'd felt something — as if the bike wanted something from her. She'd dismissed the feeling at the time, but now she understood what it was. She was still a little shaky after her wipeout, but she was determined to get it right.

She let go of the brake and again felt the power of the Cyclone as she roared down the deck. She reached for the transformation lever again, hesitating for a second as she took a deep breath. She flipped the switch, again feeling the vibe reach out to her, this time though she knew what it was and what to do. Relaxing her thoughts she let the transformation process guide her, feeling the Cyclone change shape around her. She was suddenly on her feet in a combat stance. She could feel the power that she wielded with the power armor.

_Holy crap! So this is what it feels like to be a god!_

"Sergeant… I would say that she seems to have grasped the fundamentals."

"Yes, sir…I would have to agree with you."

Faith turned facing both Paul and Bronowski, lifting her helmet visor showing them a huge beaming smile plastered across her face.

"This is AWESOME!" she said excitedly.

Paul smiled proudly and the Sergeant had a satisfied look on his face, "Sergeant, I think she's ready for weapons training now." Paul stated in a proud voice seeing Faith smile at him

"Yes, sir."

Within a short matter of time, Faith had gotten comfortable with deploying and using the CADS blades. Being a Slayer, her experience helped immensely with that part of the training. She'd been a little unsure of the size and weight of the blades at first, but with her strength being amplified by the power armor she quickly got use to them and was swinging and slashing with them as if they weighed nothing.

Along with her increased strength, she was moving faster than she thought was possible. She could feel the vibe being returned by her Cyclone as if it could feel the Slayer inside her and grasped this new level of power that it had joined with. It was a feeling she couldn't explain, but if she was forced to describe it she would say it felt like touching raw power.

Lionel had just finished up guiding her through the use of the missile system, where she had completed several simulated launches in both motorcycle and Battloid modes. She found herself still a little unsure of that weapon, but she had no doubts about using the blades. She found a part of herself desperately wanting to go back to Sunnydale and have a rematch with those Turok-Hans as she vividly recalled what Paul had done to them with his blade.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Paul, "Huh? Sorry I was thinking about how the first demon is going to crap his pants when I show up like this." she said.

Paul chuckled, "Yeah, I can imagine…you look pretty damn intimidating right now."

"Yeah…I do make this look good." she said flashing smile that would look right at home on any predator.

Both Paul and Lionel shook their heads laughing, but both soldiers had been impressed at how quick she had gotten adept and comfortable with using the Cyclone in both modes. Paul had a huge sense of self-satisfaction as he saw how much more dangerous Faith was now in the power armor. As he watched at how much faster she moved and how she used the blades as extensions of her arms, he had no doubts about his decision. He still had to talk to Buffy about equipping her with a Cyclone, but he didn't see any issues with getting her to agree, with Faith now a convert and an example of what was possible. A smile that mirrored Faith's predatory gleam came to his face as he imagined the impact of his equipping the Slayers with Robotech weaponry would have against The First.

Paul was thinking of what he and Faith could do later to celebrate today's accomplishment when he heard his name being called over the PA system. He went to the nearest com panel to answer the call.

"Coleiro here…" he answered still watching Faith going through some final instruction with the Sergeant on combat moves and use of the thrusters.

"Sir, Commander Schmidt is requesting an immediate meeting with you."

Paul felt an unexplainable chill go through his body. He shook it off quickly, "Tell the Commander I'll come down to Engineering to meet with him in twenty minutes."

"Sir…the Commander has asked to meet with you in the War Room. He stressed that it couldn't wait."

**oOoOo**

Paul entered the War Room and his earlier chill was now becoming a bad feeling as he saw Commander Schmidt. The Commander looked as if he hadn't slept much and appeared a little stressed out as he paced back and forth.

"Commander, you wanted to see me?"

"Yes, sir. We've got a situation developing."

Paul didn't like how the Commander emphasized the word situation and it only reinforced the bad feeling growing inside him, "What's the problem?"

Schmidt turned and quickly typed commands into the holographic table. A three-dimensional image appeared above the table. It took Paul a moment to realize he was looking at the system where they had been fighting the Invid and the unknown aliens before they crossed over to this universe.

"Sir, as you know our space fold field was distorted by the alien weapons and it expanded beyond its normal size."

The bad feeling in Paul's gut had changed to alarms going off in his head as he saw the holographic representation of the Arcadia and the space-fold field growing around it encompassing more and more space, "Yes…are you saying that our space fold field expanded to cover a larger area than we first estimated?"

Schmidt let out a small sigh of relief and nodded at hearing the Captain pick up quickly and saving him from having to go back and explain all the technical details, "Sir, our fold field not only expanded, but it got distorted…it wasn't a uniform field area when we folded."

Paul looked at his chief Engineer incredulously, "How's that possible?!"

"I don't know, sir. What I've been able to determine is that areas of our space fold field got stretched out like an elastic band."

Paul found himself almost afraid to ask the question, "Do we know where and how far the field got stretched?"

Schmidt gave the Captain a grim look, I don't have a precise mapped out area of the extent of the effect, but I can give you a pretty good approximation." he said as he tapped commands into the table. The space fold field shifted and distorted as parts of the field were stretched outwards in random directions covering even more of the system.

Paul felt his stomach drop away as he saw where the space fold field was being stretched out to. He felt as if he was in a dream as he heard himself say, "Put up the positions of the Invid fleet and the other alien ships."

Schmidt nodded and typed in the commands and the enemy ships lit up on the holographic display. Paul felt his legs go weak.

"Jesus…" Paul muttered as he saw one of the stretched parts of the space fold field cut right through the middle of the Invid fleet. He looked at Schmidt and saw the Commander's face go white.

"Our sensor logs…how many Mollusk carriers are in the affected area?" Paul asked in a detached voice as he stared at the holographic display that was foretelling the coming of death.

"The space fold cut through that third wave of carriers that were advancing on us. It was right at the edge and it's hard to give an exact—"

"How many, Commander?!" Paul demanded brusquely.

Schmidt let out a deep sigh, "We're looking at least twenty-five plus carriers caught in the effect."

Paul closed his eyes for moment and swallowed hard. A vision of Earth being destroyed by the Zentraedi played through his head and then he saw his mother and sister caught in the explosion, but then his mother's face was replaced by Faith's and he watched her burn, the pain stabbed him deep.

"Sir?"

Paul opened his eyes and saw Schmidt looking at him as if he could somehow wave his hands and make the oncoming death and destruction magically disappear. It took him a moment to gather his thoughts and find his voice. His throat felt as dry as the desert.

"Why didn't the Invid defold at the same time as us?" he managed to croak out.

"From what I can tell, the space fold effect in those stretched areas was quite weak. When we arrived here the space fold field stabilized back, but left whatever is in those affected areas stuck between universes…"

Paul felt a moment of hope, but he saw the Commander's face and his hope died a cruel death, "What changed?"

"It was those nukes and that other energy pattern…when the nukes went off they created an immense release of energy that normally wouldn't have affected space-time or a space fold field, but that energy pattern…it somehow was able to direct the energy released and the faint signatures of the space fold fields stabilized…whatever was trapped is now transitioning into this universe." Schmidt answered in a voice filled with a mix of awe and fear.

"How long?"

Schmidt tapped the holographic controls and the image changed to show the position of the Invid fleet in relation to the current position of the Arcadia, Earth and the moon.

"The Invid were at the extreme edge of the effect. I have been tracking the transition of mostly wreckage and debris and built a model to calculate when the affected areas will transition…I estimate that the Invid will arrive in three days…four…tops."

Paul looked at the holographic display again trying to come to grips with what he'd been told. Images of Faith and Earth burning danced through his head.

"At least none of those other alien capital ships were in any of the affected zones…"

"Yes, sir. I've been plotting the position of our task force. We will see more wreckage and some of our ships that were caught in the effect transition over the next three days."

"Which ships?" Paul asked hopefully.

"We're looking at maybe a dozen Garfish-class ships…sensor logs from the battle classify them as either heavily damaged, adrift or abandoned. We'll probably be seeing some of our escape pods, shuttles and fighters transition through, but it will be a mix lot in various conditions."

"It won't be enough...?" Paul muttered out.

"No, sir…" Schmidt responded shaking his head slowly.

Paul took a moment to collect his thoughts. He walked closer to the command table and activated the com system to call the bridge.

"Bridge, this is the Captain."

"Yes, sir."

"Bring the ship to Yellow Condition…"

"Sir?" the voice on the other end of the com channel asked in a confused voice.

"You heard me…Yellow Condition…I want all point defense weapons online and ready."

"Yes, sir!" the voice said now with a slight nervousness in it.

"I want the command staff and all department heads in the main conference room in ten minutes. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!"


	31. Hard Choices… Difficult Decisions…

**CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE:**

**Hard Choices… Difficult Decisions…**

"**_Invid:_** This s_pecies is classified as an invertebrate, bipedal, crab-like creature with four known stages of evolution which each have their own distinct characteristics and abilities (_refer to section on Invid evolutionary stages for more details_)._ _The social structure of the Invid would be comparable to that of the bees of Earth with a caste structure in place (refer to sections on Workers, Drones and Leadership). They tend to act in a hive-mind mentality and employ mass swarm attacks against an enemy with a complete disregard to casualties incurred… The Invid are currently controlled (_refer to sections on the Regent and The Sentinels Campaign for more information on the history of the leadership caste structure_) by a "queen" called the Regess who is thought to be telepathically and empathically linked to all Invid. It is theorized that her thoughts, feelings and visions can be instantly transmitted to all the Invid… The Invid homeworld of Optera is located in the Local Group area of the galaxy which was the only known location for the "Flower of Life" in the galaxy (_refer to sections on Protoculture and Robotech Masters_). The Flower of Life is central to Invid society and their survival. The Invid consume the flower and have developed a symbiotic relationship with this plant. After the defoliation of Optera by the Robotech Masters, the Invid have been searching and occupying any worlds where the flower has taken root. They show no mercy to the local populations on those planets…_"

— excerpt from the REF Field Guide (Tirol, 2036)

**oOoOo**

Looks of shock, disbelief and fear rippled across the faces of the people gathered in the conference room as Commander Schmidt finished briefing them on what they were going to be facing. Paul studied the faces as the Commander briefed them. When the Commander finished, Paul stood up moving to face his people, he paused for a moment seeing the news of what they were facing still sinking in. He took a deep breath, trying to put the words together of what he was going to say to all of them.

"Okay…the shit is going to hit the fan. There's nothing we can do to stop the Invid from arriving here, so we need to do our duty and come up with a plan to take them out once they arrive."

He saw stunned looks and could see that some of them were going to freeze up. He needed to snap them out of it quickly, "COME'ON PEOPLE! We know we can't hang with them in a straight-up fight since we don't have a fighter screen and we're running low on anti-ship missiles."

Lieutenant Hanson motioned to speak and Paul nodded, "Sir, since we know where the Invid will be transitioning, can't we mine the area and detonate them when the Invid Carriers arrive, but before they can launch their mecha."

A small smile came to Paul's face at seeing Hanson step up when needed, "Excellent idea, Lieutenant!"

He looked at his weapons officer, "Ensign Connors, what's the largest missile warhead yield we have aboard?"

The Ensign quickly typed commands into her tablet to access the ship's weapons inventory, "Sir, we have fourteen Skylord missiles aboard…they're each armed with three one-megaton warheads. They were being designated for use as hive-busters."

The small smile grew a little larger on Paul's face, "Okay…I want the warheads stripped out of ten of those missiles. Lieutenant Hanson, I want you to oversee the mine-laying operation. I want you to work with Commander Schmidt to find the optimum place for those warheads, so they vaporize every Invid carrier and mecha that shows up in that area…understood?"

A predatory smile formed on Aaron's face at the thought of how the Invid were going to be in for a huge — albeit brief — surprise when they arrived, "Yes, sir! We'll make sure that we give the Invid a warm welcome!"

Paul nodded and moved on, "Okay, we know that more of our ships and people will be showing up here before and probably when the Invid show up. I want SAR teams on standby to launch as soon as any of our people transition to recover them. Any of the larger ships that still have propulsion and life support will be directed to rendezvous at a fall back point in deep space. Those ships that are lame ducks will be abandoned and their crews will transfer to the Arcadia or other ships..."

Paul paused to make sure that everyone was on the same page. He continued on, "…As our ships and people transition here, we have to be ready that Invid mecha and those alien fighters may appear as well. We will maintain our current state of alert with our point defense weapons online and ready. Chief Larson, what's the status of our drone fighters?"

"Sir, of the thirty-five drones recovered, I have eighteen certified ready for flight operations… I can have another ten…maybe fifteen ready in the next forty-eight hours." Larson replied quickly.

"Okay…call it twenty-eight drone fighters for when the Invid arrive. I want five drones on a rotating combat space patrol to provide support to our point defense weapons. I know it isn't much of a fighter screen, but it's better than nothing."

Aaron spoke up, "Sir, what are we going to do if the nukes don't stop the Invid? What about this Earth?"

"Right now we're the only force that can engage the Invid with any hope of success. Our main purpose is to inflict as much damage on the enemy as possible and recover as many of our people and ships and equipment as we can to increase our force strength. We will take up a position, outside the mine detonation area, but within range that we can engage with our missiles and main guns. If we are unable to destroy the Invid force, we will conduct a fighting withdrawal away from Earth, hopefully drawing the Invid away from her." Paul replied.

One of the other junior officers spoke up, "Sir, what if the Invid don't follow us and attack Earth?"

A grim look grew on Paul's face, "As I said, our forces are the only hope for Earth to engage and survive an Invid attack, my primary consideration is the survival of this command as a viable fighting force. If the Invid don't follow us and attack Earth, she'll just have to absorb the attack, while we regroup and gather our forces for a counter-strike. We can engage in guerrilla strikes to whittle down their forces as they will be in the same situation as us…they won't have access to reserves and support. They will have the harder time adjusting as they're used to conducting mass swarm attacks and if we can get them to commit and draw them into killzones…well that works out better for us."

Paul saw the looks among the people gathered and he understood what they were feeling, "This Earth has nothing in the way of space force projection that can assist us in anyway against the Invid."

This time it was Chief Larson who spoke up giving Paul a hard look, "Are we even going to warn them about what's going to be coming at them?"

"I haven't decided on that yet. My concerns with that are…who do we warn and would they even listen and believe us? Would our warning cause global panic and chaos? From what we know of the Invid invasion of our Earth, the defense forces there had a limited supply of mecha and Robotech weapons and they fell back to using older style nuclear weapons…those weapons had minimal success and only caused more casualties to our people by bringing down a more violent response from the Invid."

"What about the rest of the crew and our…guests?" Aaron asked.

"As soon as this meeting is over, I'll make a ship wide announcement. You department heads will be there to explain to your people what we are doing and going to do…keep them focused on doing their jobs! For our guests…I will deal with them." Paul said, but as the words left his mouth he knew it wouldn't be as easy as it sounded.

He looked around the conference room again meeting everyone's eyes, "Okay people…we've got a lot of work ahead of us and not a lot of time. Commander Schmidt will continue to work on getting us a more precise arrival time of the Invid ships, so we can get into position ahead of them. We will plan on staying at our current alert condition until H-hour minus two hours before Invid transition. I know we have lots of work, but also make sure that everyone is getting some rest and meals…understood?"

"Yes, sir!" came a chorus of voices replying.

"Okay then…let's get to work!"

**oOoOo**

The command center was busily humming as General Coulson entered. He made his way over to the SECDEF who stood watching the display board as specialists and technicians worked and moved between stations.

"You called for me, sir?" Coulson said as he came to attention behind the SECDEF.

"Yes, General. It looks like we've got some activity going on around the moon." the SECDEF said turning to face the Coulson.

"Are _they_ making another move?"

"It's not them…we're starting to get more radar hits. One moment there's empty space and the next we're getting radar returns indicating something there."

Coulson tried to keep the worried look off his face, "Is it more ships?"

The SECDEF shook his head, "No, so far the radar returns are not big or solid enough to be ships. What we are getting are objects of various sizes appearing randomly. From what we've been able to gather with our cameras and telescopes is giving us some confusing results."

"Sir?"

"Our analysts are reporting what looks like debris fields in those areas."

"Debris? What does that mean?"

"I don't know General, but it's giving me a bad feeling." replied the SECDEF.

**oOoOo**

Charles Gunn tried to keep his worries and fears in check as he watched Angel pace anxiously back and forth, looking very agitated.

"So the senior partners wouldn't tell you what's going on?" Angel asked finally stopping his pacing, but still looking worked up.

Angel had been digging around, trying to gather more information on the Vice-President when suddenly sources started drying up. At first he'd thought it was due to what he was trying to find out about the VP, but it soon became apparent that something else bigger was coming down the pipe and it was somehow related to what had happened in Sunnydale.

He tried to keep his thoughts clear, but it was hard to keep a clear mind and not be agitated with Buffy missing and not knowing if she was alive or dead. He'd tried to do some digging about what had happened in Sunnydale, but other than getting some vague details about the town getting hit hard and something stomping on The First Evil's minions, there was little to go on. Now the town had been locked down by the military and nothing was getting in or out.

Along with worrying about Buffy, he was also dealing with the surprise request from an old acquaintance looking for links between Wolfram &amp; Hart and certain government and military officials. He deduced that there was too much happening at once for it all to not be related. Angel had sent Gunn to "talk" to the senior partners to try and obtain any information about what was happening.

"No, but whatever is and going to happen has them concerned…almost afraid if that was possible." Gunn replied still feeling a little shaken from his earlier meeting.

"Why? What's going to happen?"

"No clue…I've talked to my other sources and either they don't know or are too afraid to even talk to me."

Angel was trying to work through what Gunn was telling him. The senior partners usually would at least provide some sort of cryptic message, but to say nothing…that spelled major trouble. His thoughts were interrupted as his office door opened and Wesley came in. Angel looked at him and his sinking feeling got worse as he read his face.

"Were you able to talk to The Powers?" Angel asked looking for the least glimmer of news.

Wesley's face got grimmer, "Not directly…I did manage to track down Whistler."

Angel's ears perked up and for a moment there was a brief glimmer of good news, but looking at Wesley's face stomped on that glimmer, "What did he say?"

"Not much I'm afraid… He said that what was going to happen was out of their hands."

"Anything else?" Angel asked trying to make sense of what was happening.

Wesley shook his head, "He did say something else, but it didn't make much sense… He said that the final player in what was going to happen would be arriving soon and everything would change."

**oOoOo**

Paul sat gazing out the windows of the observation deck. He tried to find a sense of peace looking at the moon and the distant stars, but knowing that the Invid were coming made it impossible. He'd made the ship-wide announcement to the crew about the Invid coming. He had confidence and few doubts about his crew as they all knew their duty and what to do. What was really bothering him was the estimated damage and casualty projections for Earth, from an Invid attack, that he'd just finished reviewing. The report estimates Lieutenant Hanson and Commander Schmidt had quickly put together were appalling. His mind was filled with numbers of dead and wounded along with trying to come up with strategies to defeat the Invid fleet.

The mining of the Invid transition area was a good start, but the problem was if they missed a large number of the Carriers. The Arcadia only had a limited number of anti-ship missiles and if the Carriers were able to deploy their mecha, even with the main batteries firing the ship's defenses would be swamped.

_At least twenty-five Carriers with at least 200 Shock Troopers per Carrier…that's at least five thousand Invid mecha and we have what…maybe twenty-eight Shadow drone fighters…Lieutenant Evans and myself and then a handful of half or barely trained pilots…_

Paul knew that the mines would take out a huge number of the Invid ships, but the problem was if there were more ships than estimated. What if more Invid transitioned in later? He couldn't rely solely on the mines taking out all the enemy ships. He needed to have a secondary response plan just in case things got worse. On top of all that, there was still what to do if enough Invid survived to launch an attack on Earth. He knew that a small force wouldn't be able to occupy the whole planet and if the planet's military forces used enough nukes, they could eventually defeat the Invid, but as the projections estimated, the damage and casualties would be hideous.

He realized that the key was to distract the Invid from the planet and draw them to chase the Arcadia and somehow draw them into another killzone. For all this to work and for Earth to have a chance, he knew that the Arcadia had to stay alive. The beginning of an idea stirred in his mind, but further thoughts were interrupted as the com system chirped catching his attention. His hand moved slowly to answer the call as he had a pretty good idea what the call was about.

"Yes?"

"Sir, there is a group of people here to see you. They're asking to meet with you."

Paul let out a small sigh as he wasn't looking forward to this meeting, "Send them up."

"Yes, sir."

It wasn't long before the door to the observation deck opened. A small smile formed on Paul's face as he'd tried to guess who would be in the group coming to see him. Buffy, Faith, Xander, Willow, Giles, Robin and even Spike entered the room. Paul didn't stand as he lazily swept his hand to offer them a seat. He saw the slightly confused looks on their faces at his somewhat lax attitude towards them, but they took the seats around the conference table.

"I take it you're here to talk about what we're facing?" Paul asked as he closed his eyes, rubbing the bridge of his nose trying to make the beginning of his headache go away.

It was Giles that spoke first, "We want to know how bad the situation is and what you're going to do?"

Paul worked through how he was going to explain the situation to people that had no reference or no experience with what was coming at them, "It's bad…" was all that he could think of to say.

This time it was Buffy asking the question, "And what are you going to do?"

"We're working on a response." Paul answered with his eyes still closed.

He heard a snort and he immediately knew who had done it as his eyes opened and his gaze shifted over to Spike. He saw the look that the vampire was giving him and felt his blood pressure start to rise.

"I don't know how much you know about the Invid, but I'll give you the short version… They're like a force of nature…they work as a hive mind and come at you in mass waves. There is no finesse, there is no subtlety in their tactics…they show no fear and they do not stop attacking until either you've killed them all or you're dead…"

"So like a demon or vampire…so what's the problem, mate?" Spike replied with a smirk on his face.

Paul closed his eyes and counted to ten as he got control. It wasn't going to help the situation for him to lose it.

"The problem…mate, is that we're looking at twenty-five _plus_ Invid Carriers showing up on our doorstep and each of them carry at least two hundred fighters…which they will launch. Do the math…mate!" Paul said with a hard serious look directed at Spike.

Paul didn't have much of a satisfied feeling as he glanced and saw the looks of comprehension and shock grow across their faces.

There was a moment of silence, again it was Buffy that spoke, "What happens to Earth?"

Paul let out a sigh as he leaned forward and typed in some commands on the console. Data started appearing on the large display screen mounted on the wall. Everyone turned and looked at it as Paul gave a summation of the damage and casualty projections.

"If the Invid hit Earth with the force we estimate that is transitioning here, and taking into account that the Invid will be drawn to populated areas and factoring your planet's military response...we estimate anywhere from five to fifty million dead, probably double that for wounded."

Everyone stared at Paul dumbfounded as he'd given the numbers as if he'd been discussing the weather. Surprisingly it was Willow that responded, "Y-You're not going to let the Invid attack Earth…are you?"

"We're obscenely outnumbered, but we do have one advantage…we know where the Invid will be arriving along with a rough idea of when. As we speak, I've got crew removing Reflex warheads from our largest missiles. We're going to lay a minefield in that area and when the Invid arrive…well…let's say that Invid better have some pretty heavy sunscreen." Paul said as his mouth ticked upward in a slight smirk.

"What happens if you don't get all of them with your warm welcome?" Spike asked.

"That's the problem…we only have an estimate of what is coming. I'm going to place the Arcadia outside the blast radius of the minefield but keep us in weapons range. We're hoping that the mines take out most of the ships and we pick off the stragglers and damaged ships, but we have only a limited number of anti-ship missiles left."

"What does that mean?" Robin asked.

"It means, we'll engage the Invid as long as we can, but the survival of this ship is vital if we are going to help with Earth's defense. If we can't destroy the Invid, we're going to withdraw away from Earth…"

"You can't abandon Earth! All those people!" Buffy blurted out in shock.

"We're hoping that the Invid follow us…we know they're drawn to Protoculture sources and we're the only source of Protoculture close by, but there is a chance they could ignore us and still attack the planet." Paul replied calmly, but noting the look on each person's face.

"So running away then…" Spike muttered.

Paul heard him and a flash of anger rose, "I don't make this decision lightly, but if we stand and fight and we die without destroying the Invid…then Earth will still face an attack and we won't be around to help!"

"M-Maybe you can ask the government for help?" Willow offered.

Paul sighed shaking his head, "If we had weeks, maybe we could organize and co-ordinate a defense, but there isn't any time to do it…I don't have the time to waste in trying to negotiate with a planet that fired nukes at us."

"What about you know who?" Faith said, "Can't she tell her people that we're not the threat?"

Paul rubbed his nose again, "Again if we had more time, but something is going on down on the planet because someone managed to put a demon aboard their shuttle and they still attacked us even after we'd warned them off. No…we don't have the time to waste trying to figure out who we can trust to talk to. We'll send them a warning when we have to move out from behind the moon to take up our position."

"Sounds pretty cold-hearted." Spike said.

"This is a military problem…sometimes we get the short-end of the stick and we have to accept some casualties in order to achieve our objective. If all it took was for me to sacrifice this ship to protect the planet…" Paul paused for a brief second as a thought burst its way to the front, "…I wouldn't hesitate or give it a second thought!"

The others had missed on Paul's pause, except for Faith. She'd picked up on his pause and the look on his face and she felt a chill run down her spine. Her thoughts and feelings were interrupted as Spike replied.

Spike smirked, "Oh, I'm not saying that your wrong mate! I'm surprised that you could make such a decision."

"You'll find that I'm full of surprises." Paul said as a half-smile formed on his face, but his mind was busy working on the idea that was forming.

**oOoOo**

Paul finally managed to end the meeting. Buffy, Faith and the others — except for Spike — weren't happy with his decision and plans, but considering there weren't any other obvious alternatives and that time was of paramount importance there wasn't much they could suggest. The one positive from the meeting was they offered to assist in whatever way they could.

His mind was busy working out the logistics and angles of his plan as he made his way to the hanger deck. He needed to wargame some simulations to look at how viable his plan was, but he needed to get the ball rolling on it which required this first stop.

The hanger bay was busy with activity as he entered, techs were working hard repairing and prepping the drone fighters as Paul made his way over to Chief Larson. Larson saw the Captain coming and moved to meet me.

"Sir, what can I do for you." she asked with a smirk.

Even with everything going down, Paul couldn't help but feel a little better seeing Larson smirk at him, "What's your status Chief?"

"We're doing good… I should have those fifteen drones ready in forty-eight hours."

"Well that's good news for a change."

There was a moment where the two of them looked at each other. Larson spoke first, "You want something, sir?"

Paul tried not to laugh as he should have known that she could read him so easily, "Yes…yes there is Chief. I want you to prep twelve of the Beta fighters so that they can be mated to the drones quickly. I want you to co-ordinate with Ensign Connors as I want each of those fighters readied so that their bomb bays can be loaded with the remaining warheads from our Skylord missiles."

"Sir?" she asked questioningly unsure of where the Captain was going with this request.

Paul could read her face and explained his idea, "We don't know if our minefield at the transition point will kill all those Carriers. We know we can't get into a toe to toe slugfest without a fighter screen. If things go bad, we can use those drones as a moving minefield. With the Betas mated to the Shadow drones that will make them invisible to Invid sensors. That will give them a better chance of survival to get them close enough and take out a good chunk of space and maybe we get lucky."

A small knowing smile formed on Larson's face as she nodded in understanding at what the Captain was planning, "I would have to divert a few techs to prep the Betas, but it's doable."

Paul nodded as he weighed the impact of diverting people to work on getting his plan ready, but he needed to have a fallback plan in case things went bad, "Do what you need to do to get it done Chief. If you need more bodies I'll try and dig up the people you need, but as you know we're pretty shorthanded."

Larson nodded her understanding as she came to attention, giving him a salute, "Yes, sir! We'll do our best, sir!"

**oOoOo**

"Run wargame simulation Coleiro-Twelve…"

He watched as the holographic display reset and showed the position of the Earth, moon and the Arcadia. What followed was the sudden appearance of twenty-five Invid ships. Bright strobing lights filled the simulated space where the Carriers were. Seven surviving Invid ships moved towards the Arcadia opening their upper and lower doors deploying their mecha. Simulated missile and laser barrages were launched by the Arcadia which destroyed the remaining Carriers and some mecha. Waves of Invid fighters pursued the simulated Arcadia which responded by launching the twelve warhead-armed drone fighters towards the 1000 plus Invid fighters. More simulated explosions filled the simulated space and then space was empty of any enemy ships.

_Damn! I love it when a plan comes through…_

Paul had a self-satisfied look on his face as he'd run through twelve simulations where five to ten Carriers survived the initial minefield. In each case the drones carrying the warheads were able to get position and englobe the Invid ships. The overlapping detonations were more than enough to destroy the ships.

_It's a little bit of overkill…but then whenever you deal with the Invid, there is no such thing as too much firepower…_

The com system chirped, still feeling good Paul answered it, "Coleiro here."

"Sir."

"Yes, Chief. What's the word?"

There was a pause and Paul got a bad vibe.

"Sir…we've run into a problem."

"How bad?"

"We've run into a little problem trying to fit those Reflex warheads into the Betas. The bomb bays require more modifications than I first thought. I'm not going to have all twelve ready in time."

"How many, Chief?"

"I'm only going to have six ready in time. I'm sorry, sir. If we had…"

Paul heard the regret and failure in her voice. He couldn't _and wouldn't_ blame her for this, "I know, Chief. There's nothing we can do about it… How many drones are we going to have on the line?"

"I can give you thirty-three drones armed and ready, sir!"

"Thanks, Chief." Paul said as he cut the channel.

Paul stared at the holographic display as if it was taunting him. He was hesitant to run the simulations, but he had to know. He entered the new parameters into the simulation and watched them play out.

Ten simulations later, Paul stared at the holographic display with a hard lump in his stomach. In each of the simulations, the six drones carrying the warheads went off, but each time they left a large number of Invid fighters alive that caught up with the Arcadia, overwhelmed her defenses, destroying her and everyone aboard.

_Damn it! They're spread too far apart to catch them with only six warheads…we need to get them to group closer to get the maximum effect of the blasts…_

Paul stared at the results, _Okay let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. Battle damage projections estimate that the minefield has an 80%-90% chance of taking out all the Invid Carriers. It's just that damn percentage if we miss…they'll swarm us. At least we bleed the Invid enough that Earth has a chance, but it would be nice if we all survived. There has to be a way of getting the Invid closer…_

He lost track of time as he stared at the display trying to think of an idea, of some way to group the Invid closer together. The beginning of an idea flickered in his thoughts, he accessed the console to input new parameters for the simulation.

"Run wargame simulation Coleiro-Twenty-three…"

The simulation ran again, this time it had been configured to allow ten Carriers to survive the minefield. This time as the attacking Invid closed with the Arcadia, a fighter screen consisting of forty-nine drone and manned Alpha fighters was launched first, followed by the six warhead carrying drones. The fighter screen moved to engage the Invid. The computer showed the enemy swarming towards the fighters, grouping up closer than in the previous simulations. The six drones took up predetermined positions and then detonated, the overlapping explosions took out the Invid fighters — along with all the Veritechs. He found himself staring at the results for a long time.

_Okay…this is not my best idea ever and it sucks six ways from Sunday. I have twenty-seven drones available…that means the other twenty-two fighters will have to be manned by myself, Lieutenant Evans and twenty barely trained pilots. Evans and I would last long enough, but sending twenty people out as fodder…they wouldn't last a minute… It's just finding the right number of fighters to deploy…_

He stepped forward pressing a console button, "Computer…using the programed parameters, current ship's resources and known Invid tactics and responses, what is the minimum number of fighters required needed to draw the Invid into projected killzone?" he asked.

Paul stood there watching with arms crossed as the computer started running more simulations at speeds that could be barely followed by the human eye as it ran through and tested numerous combinations using the necessary parameters. It didn't take long for the results to come through and be projected on the holographic display.

His eyes locked on the words as they burned into his mind, _"To achieve required maximum kill ratios with available ship resources, the operation will require a screen consisting of twenty-eight fighters."_

Paul felt a brief moment where everything stopped as the cruel math hit him like a hammer.

A thought flashed through his head, _So this is how it ends…_

_Okay let's not get ahead of ourselves. There's still a chance that we'll kill all the Carriers at the transition point and I won't have to go ahead with this plan…_

Paul sighed as he realized that universe could be a very cruel place.

_I have to be ready to go, just in case…_

He pressed a button on the console and waited for a response. He didn't have to wait long.

"Chief Larson here."

"Chief…I've been running some simulations. We're going to be a little light on our drone minefield. I've come up with a plan to draw the Invid closer to maximize our weapons…"

"Yes, sir. I'm all ears."

"We're going to launch all our operational drones as a fighter screen…that should draw the Invid in closer and when they do, well…"

"Sounds good, sir! All drones will be ready to go, you can count on it!" Larson said excitedly.

"I know, Chief… There is a chance that a few Invid fighters may survive that killzone and we may have to launch manned fighters to support our point defense weapons."

"Understood, sir. Whatever you need."

"I want twenty Alphas prepped and armed for launch…"

"Yes, sir. Anything else?"

"Yes, I also want my Shadow fighter prepped and a Beta mated to it."

There was a pause on the com channel, "Sir, is there something wrong?"

Paul shook his head as he knew that Larson could read him like a book. He was going to have to make himself scarce around her while he put his backup plan together.

_Maybe it'll all work out…_

"No, Chief. We're good. I'm just making sure we've got everything covered. Simulations look good for taking out all the Carriers at the transition point, so this might all be moot."

"Yes, sir. We'll have everything ready to go when the Invid arrive."

"Thanks…Rac— Chief."

There was another pause on the com channel for a long moment before Larson spoke, "Sir? You sure nothing is wrong?"

"Other than the Invid coming, everything is good."

Paul cut the com channel and stood looking at the holographic display and the words plastered up there. Images danced through his mind. He saw his Earth burn…he saw his mom and sister die…he saw Faith's face and how she smiled at him. A pang of regret stabbed him.

Out of curiosity, he ran another simulation using only twenty-seven fighters in the screen. He watched as eighty Invid fighters survived the drone minefield and descended on the Arcadia.

_I always wanted to go out with a bang…one for nearly four hundred…not a bad exchange_, he thought staring at the display.

Further thoughts and plans were pushed aside as a voice caught his attention, "They said you were hiding in here."

Paul quickly pushed a command button clearing the holographic screen. He turned and smiled at Faith as she came over to him.

"Something wrong?" she said with a slightly worried look on her face as a strange chill ran through her.

"No…I'm just working through some planning for when the Invid arrive. I'm running some computer simulations to test out some theories and make sure I've tried to cover off some contingencies." he said looking into her eyes.

She couldn't shake off the strange feeling she was getting, "You sure everything's okay?"

"It all looks good…we'll be alright…everyone on the Arcadia will be fine." he said reaching out to caress her hair.

After a moment Faith spoke, "I came by to see if you wanted to grab a bite to eat and take a break." she said with a knowing smile.

Paul snorted, "How come I think that your meaning of 'a break' means I won't be getting much of a rest."

The smile on Faith's face got bigger, "I guess that makes you a mind reader. You going to complain?"

A brief thought flashed through Paul's mind, _Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die…_

"No…not in the least." he said taking Faith's hand in his and letting her lead him out of the War Room.


	32. What's the rush?

**CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO:**

**What's the rush?**

"_…Some days it was hard dealing with what was happening all around us. I thought it would be like a vacation as Kennedy and I were able to spend some quiet quality time together... We had managed to escape Sunnydale to end up in space to only face having nukes shot at us by our own government and demons running around the ship. Then she sprung the news on me that she was taking pilot training along with some of the other Potentials. I guess I was still recovering from losing Tara and here was Kennedy wanting to put herself in even more danger (as if being a Slayer Potential wasn't dangerous enough)… We managed to keep our arguments about her decision behind closed doors which had the added bonus of the making up afterwards. I was starting to almost feel somewhat comfortable with the idea of her being a pilot when the announcement was made about the Invid coming. Unlike most of the others, I had seen the REF battle records against the Invid and it left me feeling cold and empty inside. I found myself _almost _wishing that we were back in Sunnydale and only had to worry about vampires and demons trying to kill us…_"

— Willow Rosenberg

**oOoOo**

Faith lay stretched out in bed, watching Paul as he got dressed, "What's the rush?"

Paul looked at her raising an eyebrow, "The rush? We just spent the last hour taking 'a break' and I have to get back to work…you know—"

"Yeah, yeah…I know the end of world is coming and all that…been there done that…got the t-shirt and scar." she said with snort. A small smirk came to her face as she decided to have a little fun.

"You sure you want to rush off?" she asked teasingly as she flipped back the blanket to expose herself fully.

Paul sighed, but a smile grew on his face as he drunk in Faith's body, "I promise you once we deal with the Invid, I will take some time off. We'll stock my cabin with food and water and we're not coming out for a week."

"Don't forget handcuffs…" she said smiling enjoying how Paul looked at her.

Paul moved towards her, leaning across the bed over her. He looked directly into her eyes smiling, "No…we won't forget the handcuffs." He said softly as he leaned in kissing her hard and long.

As they parted a huge smile covered Faith's face, "Ummm…that was pretty intense. What's up?"

Before he could think the words left his mouth, "I care about you… I—"

"Don't say it!" Faith said cutting him off. Her face immediately took on an almost pained expression. It had changed as if a light switch had been flipped.

"Why the hell not!" Paul asked as she pulled away from him, quickly getting out of bed.

"I don't do relationships…" Faith said as she pulled her clothes back on.

"Jesus! It's not like I'm asking you to marry me! I'm telling you how I feel about you!" he said in an exasperated voice.

"Yeah…you say that now, but then you'll want more and I'm not the house in the suburbs with kids and white picket fence type. I'm a Slayer…the Chosen One…okay the Chosen Two if you count Buffy, but do you know what that means? It means that someday…a vampire or demon is going to kill me. I don't get to live a normal life." Faith said as she battled with her emotions. A part of her was excited hearing how Paul felt about her, but then there was all her baggage – her life and everything that she'd done – that made her feel that she wasn't deserving of happiness or love.

Paul rolled his eyes and snorted, "Normal?! Live a normal live! I'm not exactly Mr. Normal… I fly fighters for a living and to be perfectly honest I've gone way past my life expectancy. I get it that you don't do normal…I don't do normal either, but that doesn't mean that we can't have feelings and want to have something more. I want to be with you now and for as long as we can get…who knows we could end up hating each other's guts…" Faith let out a snort as he continued, "…God knows how long each of us has, but that doesn't keep us from feeling and wanting."

Faith shook her head, "You barely know me…we've only been together for a few days, granted they've been really great, but you know next to nothing about me."

Paul looked her in the eyes not backing down, "Okay, tell me something about you."

_Maybe this is a sign to get things out and get this over with_, she thought.

"I've done things…I've killed people…" she said hesitantly as started to drag out her baggage that she would have preferred leaving locked in her dark spaces.

"You're a Slayer…its part of the job."

Faith shook her head, "No…there was a time in my life that I stopped being a Slayer," she paused for a moment to figure out how to tell him what she was guilty of, "I murdered people… I tortured people… I fell into a dark place. You've seen the scar on my stomach? That's a nice souvenir reminder from Buffy from those times."

She saw his eyes go wide, _See you've done it, you've trashed this relationship…_

"Well you two seemed to have worked your differences out." Paul said refusing to give ground.

"God your stubborn! I was in prison for the crimes I committed…I'm guilty!"

"Everyone's guilty of something…sometimes you just learn to live with it." Paul said with a tinge of sadness in his voice.

Faith took a deep breath as his words sank in, "I know that you lost your parents and your sister. I know what happened with Sonia, Rachel told me about it."

Paul looked at her and snorted, "I've been a soldier for most of my life… I watched Earth burn under Zentraedi bombardment… I watched my father…mother and sister die… You know the thing I remember the most of that day is that I let go of my mom's hand. If I had held on…"

"I-I'm sorry…" Faith started to say.

There was a long moment of silence, "You want to know why I care about you…I guess I see some of me in you. How old were you when you ended up on the street?" Paul asked finally breaking the silence

Faith wasn't sure where this was going and was a little surprised that he knew that she lived on the street, "How did you know?"

He smirked, "Like I said…I see some of you in me. After my family died and New Macross was destroyed, I ended up in Monument City, the hospital at first and then a group home. It was such a mess and everything was in chaos…the Zentraedi that had settled on Earth were in rebellion. I was so full of hate and anger… I wanted all the Zentraedi to die for what happened to my family. It didn't take much to run away from the home…I was able to hitch a ride down to Brasilia where the rebellion was centered, I was twelve at the time…"

Paul looked at Faith and went over to his desk, opening the drawer to pull out his bottle and a couple of glasses. He poured them both drinks and passed her the glass. He threw back the shot and poured himself another one as Faith sipped hers.

"I had no plan or idea of what I was doing. I thought I was so smart… You know what it's like living on the streets…when you're cold and hungry. The things you would say and do to survive."

Faith nodded slowly as she understood all too well what living on the street cost. She wanted to say something, but she couldn't because she felt her throat tighten.

"The thing you had to watch out for were the older boys that ran in street packs. Most of the time they just beat you up and took any money you had begged or stolen, your food or the few possessions that you may have collected…most of the time."

An icy feeling stabbed her in the stomach as she knew where this story was headed as Paul continued.

"A-After..." Paul had to pause to take a deep breath to push the old pain away, "…After it happened, I left the city and spent weeks on the outskirts wandering around, scrounging through wrecked Zentraedi ships, just trying to find food and water to stay alive. There was many a day, where I wished I had never let go of my mom's hand and my pain would be over."

"I-I…" Faith tried to say, but gave up as she slammed back the rest of her drink.

"There's nothing to say…you learned to survive or you didn't. I finally had to go back into the city. I managed to stay away from the predators. One night there were a bunch of us younger kids scrounging through the trash for scraps. We got jumped by a pack, everyone scattered. I remember running…I had no one chasing me, then I heard the screaming. I should have kept running, but I was tired of being helpless and afraid, I was tired of running and hiding."

"You went back…to fight." Faith said quietly.

Paul nodded, "I snuck back, staying in the shadows. I recognized the older boys…they were the same ones. The boy they had was probably no older than twelve. I found an old steel pipe. I can recall it all so clearly as everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. I was so angry and full of hate. I stepped out of the shadows and caught the first boy across the knee cap, the second and third ones I each caught across the head and face, cracking their skulls. They were dead, before they hit the ground. The last boy…he was probably no older than seventeen. His pants were down around his ankles, he tripped trying to run away. I beat him until even God couldn't recognize him. I remember hearing yelling and screaming…I was the one yelling. The first boy I put down was doing the screaming. I remember the look in his eyes as I walked back to him…there was blood everywhere. I was covered in it, but I didn't care. He was begging, saying he would do anything if I just left him alone. I could have killed him, but I wanted to send a message…"

Faith found that she'd been holding her breath, "What did you do?"

"I smashed his other knee cap and leg…I crippled him. Left him there in that mess. After that most the predator packs stayed away from me, some of the younger kids on the street started hanging near me for protection…they started giving me food, money. I didn't want any of what they offered. I would probably still be there or dead, if Max Sterling hadn't found me."

"Who's he?"

Paul snorted, "He's only one of the greatest VT pilots…he was commanding Skull Squadron then. He had been friends with my dad. I still remember the look of shock on his face when he saw and recognized me. I had made the mistake of trying to lift his wallet…he chased me down nearly twelve blocks."

Faith couldn't help herself as she laughed, but then the sobering thoughts and feelings of what she'd been told sank in again, "I-I'm sorry…"

"You wanted to know why I care about you. I've only told this story to one other person."

"Sonia?"

Paul nodded, "Those things you did…the people you killed…those that you tortured. Do you see them in your dreams…nightmares?"

Faith nodded not sure she could trust herself to speak.

"Do you feel guilt or remorse for your actions?"

Faith let out a deep sigh, "I've learned to take responsibility for my actions…so yeah, I feel remorse and guilt. I wish I could take it back, but I know I can't."

Paul let out his own sigh, "That makes you a better person than me. I have no guilt or remorse for those boys I murdered and crippled. I have no doubts that I'm going to hell for what I've done in my life. If there is a God, in the end I'll be judged for what I've done… I can't change the past and I don't know what the future will bring. All I can do is deal with the right now…and right now I'm with you and I'm happy when I'm with you."

Faith found herself unable to speak. She could see herself standing at a crossroads. The well-traveled path was the one where she would say something and/or do something to end the relationship. A part of her wanted to sprint down that path as it was something she knew and was comfortable with. It was the path she deserved, but a little voice was telling her to take the other path that had never been traveled before. It was telling her to take a chance. Paul had opened up to her, there was no agenda or scheming. He hadn't asked for anything from her that she hadn't wanted to give, yet she found herself afraid. Her thoughts and emotions warred with each other as she looked at him.

_Yeah…damn rights I'm scared! I'm scared of dying… I'm scared of what I've done… I'm terrified that I might find someone that I might care about and that I might lose them or do something to push them away… _

She was about to tell Paul how she felt, when alarms suddenly went off through the ship.

**oOoOo**

The SECDEF and General Coulson had retreated to a conference room to discuss the developing situation.

"What do you think our friends up there are up to?" the SECDEF asked as he reclined back in the chair taking a sip of his coffee.

"I've got no idea…that they moved behind the moon and made no moves towards us at least gives us a chance to let things settle down and for us to get some control over the situation." Coulson replied.

"We need to contact them…before things spin out of control again. I've talked to the President, he's onside now as he wants to defuse the situation. The press are asking too many questions. We've managed to suppress information about the nukes going off, but it's only a matter of time before word leaks out." the SECDEF said with a look of concern on his face.

Coulson nodded showing no expression, but he let out an inner sigh of relief, "What about the VP and the Chiefs?"

"I think the Marines and Navy are on side, but the others… What news do you have on our 'other' problem?"

Coulson leaned in closer, "I've got no smoking gun other than a list of government and military officials along with some prominent business leaders that contribute sizable sums to both parties that do business with Wolfram &amp; Hart. My contact is digging deeper and my people are trying to follow the money, but…"

"Yes, I know we have to go slow and careful. We—" the SECDEF was interrupted as the phone buzzed. He quickly pressed the speaker button, "Yes?"

The voice on the other end of the line sounded anxious as it responded quickly, "Sir, our radar and ground monitoring stations have picked up a lot activity occurring around and near the moon."

"What's happening? What kind of activity?" the SECDEF asked getting a worried feeling building.

The SECDEF and Coulson could almost hear the anxious voice gulp, "Well, sir…if what the reports say is true…it looks like there is some sort of battle taking place."

**oOoOo**

Paul rushed on to the bridge. He knew that Faith was following him, but he didn't have the time to argue with her about civilians being on the bridge during battle. He reached his station as Lieutenant Hanson moved to meet him.

"Report Mr. Hanson?"

"We're getting ships transitioning back into normal space…we started getting emergency beacons. So far we've got at least twenty-five ships…with more appearing. It's a mix bag of escape pods, some shuttles, a couple of damaged fighters and some light cruisers. We've also picked up energy emissions from some Invid fighters."

"How many enemy ships?"

"We're picking up at least thirty…they appear to be moving erratically. It could be some residual effect from the transition that's impacting them." Aaron reported.

"Status of our Combat Space Patrol?"

"I've moved them to cover our ships and engage the Invid…I've scrambled our remaining available drones to support."

Paul tried not to wince at the thought of what losing any of the drones would have on his backup plan, but it was the right move now and Hanson had made the right call, "Good job, Lieutenant…we need to get closer and support with our weapons."

Hanson nodded, understanding what the Captain wanted. He turned towards the navigation and helm station firing out rapid orders, "Helm, bring us on bearing 058. Engines at full. Weps, as soon as you are clear to engage, target closest enemy targets with point defense weapons. We'll keep our missiles as reserve."

Paul listened with a sense of satisfaction at the orders that Aaron had given and heard the chorus of "Aye, ayes." from the bridge crew.

Faith stood off to the side trying not to get into the way as she felt completely out of her element. She could feel the ship start to accelerate as she watched Paul and the rest of the crew work at their stations. She felt completely helpless as she saw bolts of light suddenly fly out from the ship. This was quickly followed as small explosions starting to bloom across space.

**oOoOo**

Lieutenant-Commander James Wright felt as if his body had been pulled apart and turned inside out as he became aware of his surroundings. He felt sluggish and his eyes were having a hard time focusing. He was trying to put together the last memory he had when he smelt and saw the smoke that drifted across the bridge that was lit up by emergency lights. It suddenly all came back in a rush.

_Invid…we were trying to escape the Invid and those other aliens… The Commander was about to order a space-fold when someone yelled out something about the Arcadia, then we got hit and everything went white…_

He turned his head stiffly looking around the bridge of his ship. The bridge had taken a near hit…some of the consoles had blown out and debris was scattered around the bridge. He lifted his head higher and could make out the outlines of the rest of the bridge crew scattered around. He heard low moans and saw some slow movements from some of his shipmates while others were silent and not moving at all.

Wright found it hard to get his balance as he tried to stand, almost falling back on the deck, but managed to catch himself and steadied himself. He felt a wetness on his face as became aware of the alarms going off along with emergency lights flashing on the few functioning consoles. His head ached and throbbed as he became more aware of his surroundings. He touched his head and saw the blood on his fingers. He tried to focus as he found his vision blurring. He thought he heard a faint voice calling out. He looked around saw no one else conscious that was talking. Focusing on the voice, he staggered towards it which seemed to be emanating from the communications station. As he got closer the voice became clearer that his brain could make out the words.

_"Come in REF Dolphin… This is the Arcadia…we have dispatched fighters and a rescue team to assist you. Please respond Dolphin…"_

Wright was trying to make sense of what he was hearing as he still felt as if he was in a fog. His gaze drifted towards the bridge's observation window and he found himself staring absently at the blue and white planet hanging in space that greeted him.

He found that he couldn't stand anymore as he stared at the planet. He slide down to the deck with his eyes locked on to the planet with his brain trying to make sense of it all. He felt as if he was drifting away as it felt so unreal.

**oOoOo**

Buffy was still questioning how she'd ended up on a shuttle moving between ships while a battle was still taking place. She'd heard the alarms and made her way to the hospital to see if they needed any help. She got swept up by med-techs, joining them as they rushed to the hanger deck. Entering the main hanger deck, she was greeted with a scene of chaos as she saw small looking craft mixed in with larger shuttles that were disgorging people. There were numerous wounded and a triage area was being quickly established to deal with them. She heard the cries, moans and screams of pain and she was suddenly back in Sunnydale. She closed her eyes to push away the memories, reopening them quickly as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned finding Sergeant Bronowski looking at her.

"You busy?" the Sergeant asked in an urgent voice.

Buffy shook her head as she looked around. She noticed Anya moving between the wounded assisting the med-techs.

"We're putting together a rescue team to board one of our Light Cruisers that was damaged. We need people to help search for survivors and evacuate the wounded. You up for that?" Lionel asked.

Buffy nodded as she again looked around at the chaos, "Yeah…anything I can do to help."

The Sergeant guided her over to a shuttle that was being loaded with people and equipment. He looked over Buffy as they got closer to the shuttle, "We'll outfit you with a suit once aboard." he said.

"Suit?"

"Spacesuit and helmet…some of the areas of the ship may be exposed to vacuum. You're going to need an air supply unless those Slayer powers of yours give you the ability to breathe without air." Lionel answered with a smirk.

Buffy suddenly felt a twinge of nervousness at hearing she would be exposed to space. Lionel must have been able to read the nervousness on her face as he quickly spoke up, "Don't worry…just breath normally and relax…the equipment is top rate and you'll be with me the whole time. Okay?"

Buffy felt a little more confident and gave the Sergeant a weak smile in response.

The next thing she knew, she was strapped into a seat on a shuttle as it blasted across space. Her fear of flying hit her hard as her knuckles turned white gripping the armrests of her seat tightly. She tried to keep herself calm by focusing on the instructions that Sergeant Bronowski was giving the team. The shuttle started moving faster, changing directions rapidly.

"W-What's h-happening?" she asked nervously.

Lionel came over closer to her. He could see her nervousness and it surprised him to see a Slayer looking this way, "The pilots have to dodge debris floating around and there are a few Invid fighters floating around…"

Buffy's eyes went wide, "I-Invid?"

Lionel snorted, "Relax…we've got a couple of drone fighters escorting us and the Arcadia is giving us cover as well."

Buffy took some deep breaths to relax as the Sergeant moved along. The shuttle bounced and once again she found herself asking herself why she'd joined this mission. Further thoughts and fears of flying were brushed aside as an announcement came over the PA system.

_"One minute to dock… We can't access the hanger deck, but it looks like we can do a hard dock on the main airlock. There'll be no EVA…" _

Buffy released a huge sigh of relief. She felt time drag by, but then she felt the shuttle slow down and then shake slightly. She saw Bronowski at the front of the shuttle, by the airlock, looking at the rescue team.

"Okay, it looks like we have atmosphere aboard most of the ship, but everyone keep your helmets on. We look for survivors and help the wounded. Damage control team…I need you to do a quick appraisal on the ship's structure and engines, we need to know if this ship can still fly. Okay everyone, suit up!"

Buffy grabbed her helmet and put it on recalling the quick instructions that the Sergeant had given her. She trailed the rest of the team towards the airlock. She found it strange to be following rather than leading as she was used to. She reached the airlock and Bronowski did a quick inspection of her suit making sure her helmet was sealed properly. He gave her a small smile along with a thumbs up then turned leading her through the docking port on to the other ship.

She had no problem keeping up with the Sergeant as they moved through the corridors of the ship, but then she had no idea where they were headed.

"Where're we going?" she asked.

Lionel didn't pause as they kept moving, "The bridge…we need to see if any of the bridge crew is still alive and access the ship's controls to get a better idea of the ship's status."

It wasn't long before they found their way blocked by a steel bulkhead door.

Lionel tapped at the door access panel repeatedly, "Damn!"

"What's the problem?"

"Bridge door is sealed. Systems aren't responding." Lionel responded.

Buffy stepped forward and worked her gloved fingers into the seam of the door, "I guess this is why you asked me to tag along. You want to get the other side?" she said with a smirk.

Lionel snorted as he moved to the other side of the door and worked his fingers into the seam that Buffy had already started.

"On three. One…Two…Three!" Buffy said as she strained to pull the door open.

Lionel could feel his muscles strain as the sweat beaded on his forehead. He risked a glance towards Buffy and was shocked to see that she was barely breaking a sweat as she pulled at the heavy reinforced door. The door appeared to not move at first, but after what seemed like an eternity, the door started to separate and open up. Lionel redoubled his efforts as he saw Buffy pull harder and finally the door was open enough that they could both squeeze through.

Buffy went first moving slowly in the dimly lit smoke-filled bridge. She moved to the left stopping to check on the bodies she came across. She noted with some detachment that the first couple of people she checked were dead. She could easily tell from the trauma and loss of blood that they were gone. She looked around and noticed someone sitting leaning against one of the bridge stations. She saw the person's back move causing her to quickly make her way to him.

Buffy knelt next to the young man. She saw the blood and head wound, but he seemed responsive. She noted that he looked to be at least in his mid-twenties.

"Can you hear me? Are you alright?" she asked getting the man's attention.

Wright was still trying to comprehend what was happening as his vision went in and out of focus as he looked at the soldier talking to him. He could make out the face through the visor and could see it was a woman in her early twenties. He nodded his head slowly as things started to come back into clearer focus, "Yeah…I'll be fine." he muttered. He was surprised to get a smile from the woman as she opened the first aid kit attached to her suit and pulled out a compress bandage, tearing open the package and gently placing the bandage on the wound on his head.

"Okay…stay here. I'm going to check on the others." Buffy said getting him to use his hand to hold the bandage in place as she moved back to the center of the bridge.

Wright watched in stunned fascination as this small woman lifted debris and equipment that had to easily be twice her weight, with little effort, off of crewmen.

_I'm unconscious… That's it…that's the only explanation that I'm looking at Earth outside and this super strong woman…_

**oOoOo**

"Sir, we've recovered 462 personnel from escape pods, shuttles, fighters and Light Cruisers." Aaron reported.

"Status of the Light Cruisers?" Paul asked as his gaze drifted to space outside the observation window.

"Fourteen Garfish Cruisers have transitioned here. Three are complete write-offs…we were lucky to pull off a handful of survivors. Seven will need major repairs…the least damaged of the group would need at least four weeks and that would be if we had a shipyard."

"What about the remaining four?"

"A mix bag of damage…they all have propulsion. Life support is stable…" Aaron said.

"But?"

"The Dolphin is the least damaged of the group, but I wouldn't put her battle ready for at least a week."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. Make sure to get the survivors settled. Anything else to report?" Paul asked as he went over the details in his head.

"Yes, sir. Communications is reporting that we are receiving beam transmissions from the planet. They are directed at us. They appear to be coming from the United States of America."

Paul rubbed the bridge of his nose as he didn't need an extra problem to deal with at this time, "What did the message say?"

"It appears to be a looped message that repeats asking us to identify ourselves and establish communications with them to and I quote 'establish peaceful dialog' end quote." Aaron said with a smirk.

Paul had to fight not to laugh, but a small smile broke through on his face as he shook his head slowly.

"How do you want to respond, sir?" Aaron asked mirroring the Captain's smile.

"In just over two days, we're going to engage in the largest space battle that this Earth has seen and we're going to set off at least thirty megatons of reflex warheads… I don't know how peaceable they'll be after we tell them…"

"We are going to warn them?" Aaron asked sounding a little puzzled and confused.

Paul paused for a second considering the question, "Yes, Lieutenant. We'll give them at least twenty-four hours warning…I don't know what I'm going to say or how much good it will do, but we'll warn them."

Aaron nodded his understanding as he let out an inner sigh of relief. He continued on with the rest of his report.

"Sir, during the recovery operations we also encountered opposition from a number of Invid fighters. We destroyed them all, but we suffered some losses among our drone fighters."

Paul looked at Aaron with a stone face not giving away what he was feeling inside, "What's the damage?"

"We lost one fighter and three more suffered damage. They'll be non-operational for two to three days." Aaron replied as he studied his Captain and the shift in his look, "I know that you were planning to use all the drones as a part of a contingency plan…I'm sorry, sir."

Paul grimaced as he shook his head, "Lieutenant… Aaron, you have nothing to be sorry about. You made the right call and 462 people are alive right now because of the call you made. We'll just have to make do with what we got."

Aaron nodded slowly, "Yes, sir."

Paul could see that the young Lieutenant was still bothered that he'd somehow done something wrong. He decided to change the subject, "How's the arm?" he asked nodding towards the wounded arm in the sling.

Aaron grimaced slightly, "Still hurts and itches, but should be healed in a couple of weeks…at least that's what the med-techs tell me."

Paul nodded, "You take care of yourself and don't overdo it. When the Invid arrive I'll need you."

"Understood, sir!" Aaron said with a small smile as he came to attention and turned and left the observation deck.

Paul's face didn't change expression until Aaron had left and a serious worried look came to his face as the implications of losing those drone fighters would have on his contingency plans. He sat there for a long time staring out into space, his mind going over plans and strategies that he could use.

_I'm just too light in the warhead yield…I need more firepower…I need a bigger warhead yield… I need one badass nuclear expl—_

A moment of divine inspiration struck Paul and his hand moved to the com panel, "Engineering…this is the Captain. I want to speak to Commander Schmidt." Paul said as he waited a moment for the response.

"Yes, sir." came the voice over the com channel.

"Commander, what is the yield of a Reflex furnace on a Garfish-class ship that goes critical?"

There was a long pause, "The Mark 20 furnace will give you maybe ten to fifteen megatons yield. May I ask what this is about, sir?"

"Those three ships that are write-offs…how easy would it be to rig their reactors to go critical?" Paul asked as his mind worked out his planning logistics. He would still need to wargame it, but he might be able to add more firepower.

"Well two of the ships had their furnaces go critical and the safety protocols kicked in and scrammed them. It would take a week to bring their systems on-line just to do a safety check. The third one's furnace is still on-line…yeah, I could override the safeties to rig her to explode…it wouldn't take much with the state she's in." Schmidt replied.

"Thank you, Commander." Paul said as he cut the channel.

_Now to test this out_, Paul thought as he got up to head to the War Room.


	33. Hell hath no fury…

*****Warning: Sexual themes in this chapter*****

**CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE:**

**Hell hath no fury…**

"_…It wasn't like Buffy chased or threw herself at Paul. She hadn't even shown the tiniest bit of interest in him, but then she tended to keep her relationships and sexual encounters below the radar. With the Invid coming, everyone was wound up tight and they tried to find release and relaxation from wherever they could get it. I heard how the Potentials talked about Paul, it just didn't occur to me that the same things that attracted me to Paul would have the same effect on Buffy. She apologized afterwards trying to explain she hadn't planned or meant for it to happen. I remember how Xander had compared Paul to Captain Kirk from Star Trek and along with the stories Rachel {Chief Larson} had told me, it made a part of me wish that I had met the younger Paul. Considering how it all played out, it was probably a good thing that it wasn't the younger Paul involved as the things would have probably gone farther and the situation would have probably ended up getting nastier with someone _— _Paul _—_ getting hurt or killed... What bothered me the most was how angry and jealous I got over what happened. If it wasn't for the arrival of the Invid, I would have had more time to think about things and deal with my feelings than how I was forced to deal with it. Despite everything that happened, I gotta admit that there is a small part of me that is curious to know if Paul could have handled Buffy and me at the same time…_"

— Faith Lehane

**oOoOo**

The exhaustion weighed on Buffy as she exited the shuttle. She was one of the last ones off after it had landed back aboard the Arcadia. Her mind was a jumble of thoughts, images and feelings, but a part of her was telling her that a long hot shower and some food followed by sleep in a nice warm comfortable bed would make her feel better. In her state of mind, she barely noticed that the hanger deck wasn't as busy when she'd left but there was still a large crowd working with some of the rescued still being looked at and treated by the med-techs.

She felt numb as she looked at the wounded being treated. She caught the whiff of blood along with other smells in the air and images played through her mind of people wounded lying around the living room of her house. She had managed well on the other ship, it was no worse than an average night in Sunnydale. At least she had managed until they had to clear a compartment that had been exposed to space. She had thought she'd seen every way that a person could die, but she was wrong as she got a first-hand look at what explosive decompression and exposure to space could do to a person.

She could recall every detail as she forced her way into that ship's compartment. There was a hole in the hull and a crewman was strapped into their chair at their station. It took Buffy a moment to realize that the crewman was a woman. She was struck by how much the dead crewman looked like Dawn as she looked to be not much older than her sister and had long brown hair that was put back in a ponytail. Buffy had to blink because for a moment she imagined that she was looking at her sister — that was dead strapped into the chair.

The worst part was that there was no sound. Buffy could only hear her own breathing with the occasional radio chatter. She found herself staring at the woman's corpse for what seemed like an eternity with her breathing being the only noise. She'd finally snapped out of her daze when Sergeant Bronowski called for her status over the radio.

She tried pushing the memories away as she noticed Xander working on a drone fighter parked on the hanger deck. The fighter had obvious signs of damage on its fuselage from fighting the Invid. For a brief moment she considered going over to talk to him, but she saw that he was busy wrapped up in his work. She wanted to push the images of the dead and wounded she'd seen on the other ship as they were mixing in with other memories of all the dead and wounded she had witnessed in Sunnydale. She didn't think of where she was going as she let her feet guide her out of the hanger bay.

_I miss the wind…I want to feel a fresh breeze blowing on my face_, she thought as she walked trying to push the images from her mind.

It wasn't that she wasn't used to death, the First Slayer had told her that "_Death was her gift_", but dealing with vampires and demons was one thing, fighting in space against aliens was something completely different. She felt out of her element and helpless, knowing that a huge alien fleet would be here soon. She recalled seeing the wrecked and destroyed Invid ships, out the shuttle viewport, floating among the debris of the human ships. The Invid fighters looked like giant crabs with huge claws. She shuddered as she recalled seeing the remains of an Invid and human fighter — in battloid mode. One of the Invid's claws was embedded into the center of the human ship and now both were locked forever floating in a deathly embrace.

_I'm the chosen one…to protect mankind and I'm just as helpless as everyone else with the Invid coming…_

She felt as if she was in a daze as she just kept walking the corridors of the ship, with no idea where she was going. A brief thought of finding Giles or Spike passed through her mind as she felt overwhelmed. She didn't know what she wanted as she kept walking. She was caught by surprise when a voice spoke to her.

"You okay?"

Buffy barely registered any acknowledgement as she turned and saw Captain Coleiro standing in the corridor looking at her strangely.

"Huh?" she replied looking at him as if he'd spoken to her in a foreign language.

"Are you okay?" Paul asked as he moved closer to Buffy. He had been on his way back from the War Room after running new simulations adding in the detonation of one Mark 20 Reflex furnace on a Garfish-class Light Cruiser. The computer had calculated the optimal location of the cruiser and the bomb equipped drones. He could make his contingency plan work, but it would still require him flying out there. He'd been wrapped up in his thoughts as he debated what to do and what he needed to do if he had to implement his plan that he'd almost missed seeing Buffy walk past him. For some reason he looked in her direction and saw the look on her face. He immediately recognized it as shock — someone that had seen too much for them to cope with. He forgot all about his problems as he saw the young woman looking lost.

A part of Buffy's mind was surprised as the Captain took her by the hand and led her down the corridor. She followed still feeling as if she was in a daze, barely noting what was happening around her or where she was going. She noted with a sense of detachment as he took into a room. A part of her told her that this must be his cabin as he sat her on the edge of the bed. She looked down and was surprised to see a glass with a clear amber looking liquid in it. She couldn't even recall the glass being handed to her.

"Take a drink."

"I-I don't drink…" she said in a flat voice.

"You do now…take a drink." he said using a commanding tone

A part of her wanted to argue, but she did as she was told. Her arms felt weighed down, but she slowly lifted the glass to her mouth. She felt the liquid hit the inside of her mouth and tongue and flow down her throat. The taste caught her by surprise and she coughed hard pulling the glass from her mouth. She was surprised when she saw the Captain refilling her glass.

"Drink." he said again.

Buffy again lifted the glass, as if in a trance, and took another long drink. This time she didn't cough and felt the liquor flow down her throat feeling the warmth grow in her stomach and throat. She took her eyes off the glass and found the Captain kneeling on the floor in front of her. She was surprised to see such a look of concern on his face.

"You want to tell me?" Paul asked the concern evident in his voice.

Buffy nodded slowly as she took another drink, "I'm tired of all the death… I thought I was used to it and could handle it. Today helping with the rescue…I-I haven't felt this way since I came home and found my mom dead." she said in a voice devoid of emotion.

"You can't control who lives and who dies… We're in dangerous professions that surround us with death." Paul said as he moved to sit beside Buffy.

Without thinking Buffy leaned her head against Paul taking more drinks from the glass. The alcohol was starting to hit her system and she started feeling warmer and more relaxed. She took another long gulp of her drink enjoying how it made her feel.

"You need to take it easy…you'll want to sip it not gulp it." Paul said shaking his head knowing what was going to happen.

"I'm okay… I-I'll be—" Buffy started to say as she suddenly felt her stomach react to the alcohol.

Paul shook his head letting out a sigh of relief that she'd made it into the bathroom before she started throwing up. He got up and walked into the bathroom to find Buffy kneeling over the toilet, her back heaving as she emptied her stomach. He could hear her crying as she continued to throw-up. He fixed up a cool wash cloth and knelt down beside her as she continued to heave. He could tell that she was almost done. He ran his hand softly along her back, telling her it was okay.

After a few more minutes, the heaving finally stopped and Buffy sat up slowly. Paul could see her tear-streaked face as he handed her the wash cloth. She nodded, mumbling "Thanks" as she wiped her face and tried to composed herself.

Buffy felt embarrassed and stupid at how she'd behaved in front of the Captain, "I'm sorry, Captain—" she started to say.

"Paul…"

"Huh?"

"We're not in any formal setting and the last time I checked you weren't REF, so you can call me Paul here…especially after you just heaved your stomach." he said with a small smirk.

Buffy couldn't help herself as she smiled and let out a small laugh, "Yeah…I guess we're on a more first name basis now…I'm glad I made it here in time. Again I'm sorry." she said handing him the cloth.

"Sorry for what?" Paul asked giving her a look as he stood up moving over to the sink.

"Sorry for losing it… That's not like me." she said somewhat embarrassedly as she watched him rinse out the cloth and then pull out another bottle and a cup.

"You have nothing to be sorry for…shit happens all the time. Sometimes it gets to be too much to handle. You just needed a timeout to pull it back together." Paul said with a small smile.

"So you knew I was going to puke?" Buffy asked getting her own smile back.

"Well…it was 50/50. I figured you would either fall asleep or heave your guts," he smiled as he handed her the small cup with a green liquid in it, "You may want to rinse to get the taste out of your mouth."

Buffy couldn't help but laugh as she took the cup, swishing and gargling the contents in her mouth. She studied Paul out of the corner of her eye as she gargled to get rid of the bile taste in her mouth. Her thoughts wandered as she recalled how she felt when she'd first met the Captain. He seemed less angry now, but she could see the tension and stress lurking behind his eyes. She found herself unconsciously comparing Paul to all the men she'd known in her life. She'd heard the stories filtering around the ship about him and Faith and she surprisingly felt a twinge of jealousy. She pushed those thoughts away as she splashed water on her face, she couldn't help but smile as Paul handed her a towel to dry her face.

She looked at his face again, this time she picked up a vibe that something was troubling him, "Maybe it's my turn to be asking if anything is wrong." she asked.

Paul was caught off-guard that Buffy could read him. The results from the most recent wargame simulations, he'd run taking into account his new additions and changes still weighed on him. He still had a lot to do to get his contingency plan ready, but seeing that Buffy was in trouble let him push his worries and problems away for a brief moment. He shrugged nonchalantly to downplay what was going on, "We've got an Invid fleet dropping in on us and all I've got is the remnants of my task force and we're making plans up on the fly…what could be wrong."

Buffy didn't know whether to laugh or cry, she wanted to smile at his joke as it would be something that she would say when faced with an impossible situation, but this was so out of her depth, "Will we survive?" she asked quietly.

Paul didn't hesitate, "Yes."

She wasn't convinced, "How can you be so sure?"

"Because I've seen the human race face worse and we've survived and I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that we win."

Buffy heard the tone and conviction in his voice and she could almost believe him, but it still seemed like a long shot. She moved closer and looked up into his dark eyes. She could swear that she saw a tinge of purple in them, "Thanks…I mean it. I don't usually lose it like that, but when I do." she said with a smirk.

Paul smirked back, "That's what a good Captain does…he looks after his crew." he said a little awkwardly as he shifted his feet as she moved closer to him. He looked into her eyes. He saw the same strength, determination and fire as he saw in Faith's eyes, but he saw something a little different too. He knew how strong each woman was, but he had also seen how frail each of them could be. He was caught off-guard as Buffy moved in and hug him tightly. He felt awkward for a brief moment and then returned her hug.

Buffy pressed her head against Paul's chest. She felt the strength in his hug. She found herself comparing him to Spike. Yes, Spike was probably stronger, but this was different she could feel the heat from his body and she could hear his heart beating rapidly. She looked up at him and time seemed to freeze for her…

She didn't know who made the first move and she didn't care. The next thing she knew she was kissing him with a burning intensity as their mouths and tongues hungrily intertwined as their hands moved up and down each other's body. Buffy didn't resist as Paul cupped her ass, lifting her up and placing her on the edge bathroom counter. For a moment, she had a brief flashback to another bathroom but that was a different situation. This was something she wanted as she felt the hunger burning in her as she spread her legs as Paul's hands moved up and down the inside of her thighs. She let out a soft moan as his hands started caressing and squeezing her breasts gently. She felt him press against her and she responded by wrapping her legs around his body, letting out another soft moan in anticipation.

Paul felt his desire and hunger as he pressed against Buffy, feeling her legs squeeze and pull him closer into her. His body responded eagerly as he listened to her soft muffled moans as he continued kissing her. That's when he heard a small voice trying to get his attention, warning him about what he was doing. He tried to ignore the voice as he could tell that Buffy was ready and willing and it wouldn't take much to get their clothes off. The image of Buffy naked, moaning and writhing in pleasure danced in his head. Suddenly he heard Sonia's voice bouncing around his head.

_Idiot! What the hell do you think you're doing?! You could never keep it zipped up…even when you were with me! You were always a selfish bastard…thinking with your small head! What about Faith?! You love her don't you? Yet here you are ready to bang another woman!_

Paul heard alarms going off in his head and he paused. He realized that in his younger days, he and Buffy would now be naked and there would be no going back. He'd already broken Faith's trust and he could feel the guilt growing inside him. He could almost hear his younger self chiding him.

_Jesus…she's hot and ready for you! She's practically begging for you to do her and you're worried about guilt?! It never stopped you in the past…so why is it bothering you now?!_

Paul belatedly found his self-control and applied the brakes. He slowly pulled away from Buffy, breaking free of her grasp. He could see the burning want and desire in her eyes. He could almost see his younger self turn and walk away in disgust as he struggled to get control of his thoughts, "I-I c-can't…" he said shakily.

Buffy was surprised when she felt Paul pull away and then heard him speak. A wave of disappointment flooded over her as she felt the hunger and anticipation inside her. It took a moment for his words to sink in and then the realization hit her of what they were doing. She felt shame and guilt building inside her, "I-I'm sorry…"

Paul shook his head vigorously, "You have nothing to be sorry about…it's my fault." he said in a quiet firm voice as he backed away slowly from Buffy. His brain may have applied the brakes, but his body was still ready to go and Buffy was still sitting on the counter with her legs spread apart, the top buttons of her pants undone.

"You love her, don't you?" Buffy said still with an embarrassed look on her face.

Paul nodded as he bit his lip not willing to trust his voice as he felt his body start to calm down.

"She's lucky to have you…" Buffy said honestly as she pushed the few remaining simmering feelings of desire and jealousy away.

Paul nodded as he tugged and straightened his uniform. He was going to give Buffy some privacy to straighten herself up. He felt like he'd handled the situation well considering where it had been headed, what he hadn't expected was to find Faith standing in his cabin as he exited the bathroom.

Reality came crashing in as he realized that they had left the bathroom door open and he saw the look of anger and pain on Faith's face as she stared at him with burning eyes.

"F-Faith…"

"Shut up!" she said in a low angry voice.

Buffy heard the voices and came stumbling out of the bathroom. She could literally feel the look of hate and disgust that Faith gave her. She belatedly realized that the top buttons of her pants were still undone. She unconsciously reached for them and buttoned them up.

"Faith…it's not what you think." Buffy said in an almost pleading tone as the guilt, shame and embarrassment grew inside her.

"So that wasn't you moaning in there? And that wasn't the two of you playing tonsil hockey in the bathroom?"

"Faith, if you'll let me explain…" Paul said as he took a step towards her.

Faith took a step backwards, "Take one more step towards me and I swear to God that I won't be responsible for what happens." she said again using that low angry voice.

Paul could see the anger that she was barely keeping a lid on. He didn't fight her. He dropped his hands in defeat and stepped back away from her.

"I-I thought you were different… I-I t-thought y-you…" Faith said staring at Paul with the anguish and pain coming out in her voice. She couldn't stand to look at either of them anymore as her imagination filled in the gaps from the sounds she'd heard. She felt like screaming and crying simultaneously. She turned and rushed from the room as she refused to give them the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

Paul had never felt so helpless as he watched Faith rush from the room. He felt his heart tearing at the thought that he'd betrayed and hurt her. He found himself at a loss as he turned and looked at Buffy. She sighed in sympathy and turned and chased after her fellow Slayer.


	34. A storm is coming…

**CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR:**

**A storm is coming…**

"_…It must be noted that historians still argue about the battle against the Invid in space around Earth. In light of subsequent historical events most scholars label it as "_The First Battle of Earth_" while a small group continues to argue the point that this particular battle was only the continuation of the battle that started in the Vega Corinthi system in the alternate universe. Whatever title is given the battle, the stage had been set for a battle that up until that point was unlike Earth and her people had ever seen or experienced {_refer to the chapters regarding the war against the Haydonite Hegemony and The Second Battle of Earth_}. For the REF personnel this was old hat for them as they knew who the enemy was and what their capabilities were. At the time, Captain Coleiro had taken into account every detail with responses and counter responses planned for. The people and equipment were as ready as they could be and when the battle finally started it began as any normal engagement. As in all conflict the truism "_No plan survives contact with the enemy_" was taken into account. But what hadn't been taken into account was the arrival of the final player to this galactic stage and the impact it would have on everyone…_"

— excerpt from "_The History of Robotechnology and the Alliance_"

**oOoOo**

General Coulson watched as the command center was griped in what could only be described as a frenzied panic. His eyes drifted back to the digital display on the wall that was counting downing each second. The General, like everyone else, was still dealing with fallout from the message that they had received only eighteen hours ago. He was still trying to wrap his head around words that up until then he'd never heard of like… _mecha_… _Protoculture_… and most ominous of all… _Invid_.

His attention turned as he saw the SECDEF enter the command center at a brisk pace followed by an entourage of senior officers and aides with some taking rapidly into cell phones as they tried to keep pace with the SECDEF.

_We thought things were bad before_, Coulson thought as he made eye contact with his superior and made his way over to him.

As he got closer he picked up pieces of conversation that the SECDEF and his entourage were engaged in.

"…CENTCOM is scrambling to get their units rolling and dispersed…"

"…We've got SSBN's and SSN's sortieing from Pearl, New London, Kings Bay and Bangor…"

"…Atlantic and Pacific Fleet Commands are pushing out as many ships as fast as they can…"

"…SAC reports all ICBM missile complexes on alert and a ready flight of B-2 bombers with tanker support is airborne. Other bombers are being dispersed…"

Coulson came to attention in front of the SECDEF, "Sir, what's the latest news?"

The others in the SECDEF's entourage were a little dismissive of an obscure General in command of a small unit that nobody had ever heard off, but the SECDEF waved them off, "The President has been moved to Mount Weather which happened moments after he federalized the National Guard and called up the reserves. The Vice-President and Joint Chiefs have relocated to Cheyanne Mountain."

"What about the public? Our Allies, the Russians…the Chinese?" Coulson asked.

The SECDEF exhaled deeply and Coulson could see the tiredness in his eyes, "The press knows something is up, but don't know what it is. The President is going to address the nation and the world two hours before these Invid arrive. There are still some...doubters that refuse to believe this is all real, but thankfully they're in the minority. The hope is that waiting until the last moment will reduce any panic, but with the press speculating wildly, we've already got scattered reports of some panic across the country…"

"And the others?"

The SECDEF sighed, "NATO is on alert…the Russians are onboard raising the alert status of both their nuclear and non-nuclear forces. We're establishing communication protocols to co-ordinate our forces and plan for any joint operations and strikes. The Chinese are being…a little difficult as they are finding it hard to believe what we all will be facing in…" the SECDEF glanced towards the digital clock that was counting down, "…five hours and fifty minutes."

"Sir, I could use my Chinese contacts to try and convince them that this is all real." Coulson replied.

The SECDEF nodded giving the General a tired smile, "I was hoping for exactly that."

"Sir, is there anything else I can do to help?" Coulson offered.

"Yes there is. I want you to go over the message and the data that the Arcadia sent us."

Coulson looked a like dubious at this request, "Sir, I'm not a scientist and my experience in terms of space operations is limited… I'm not sure I'm the right expert to—"

"We've got tons of experts from CIA, NSA, DARPA to NASA…hell I think even the IRS may even be in there somewhere. I've got all these experts going through all the technical data and eventually they'll give us something. What I need is your gut feelings and instincts on what the hell is going to engulf us all. So far you've been on top of things and your command is used to dealing with situations that are…to say the least out of the ordinary. You have an open mind and we need that right now."

Coulson nodded, "Yes, sir. Whatever you need."

The SECDEF smirked and turned to one of his aides and fired off some orders. Coulson then found himself being quickly led away out of the command center. He found himself ensconced in a conference room with technicians coming and going setting up computers and running encrypted communications equipment into the room for his use. Coulson waited until all the tech people had left before he took off his jacket and settled into one of the conference room chairs. He took a moment to close his eyes and clear his mind. He hadn't slept much in the last few days and he could feel the exhaustion pulling at him. He rubbed his eyes before turning his attention back to his work, typing commands into the computer workstation keyboard that had been setup for him. He found himself pausing just as he was about to access the stored file. He'd been in the command center when the original message had come in. He was still trying to come to grips with how his — and everyone else's — understanding of the universe had been turned on its side. Even knowing beforehand that there were "aliens" in orbit, the communication that they had received had changed everything. Coulson pressed the key to play the data file that contained the message.

It took a moment for the file to load and the media player opened, Coulson was greeted with the face of another man. He looked like any other human and the General could see and hear the military professionalism that radiated from the man. The one physical attribute, of the man, that stood out more than the rest of him was his eyes…they were so dark that they almost looked black. In one way this made the man in the message appear to not be human.

_Or maybe it makes him more human_, Coulson thought as he read the man's face and could see it was someone that was serious. He studied the face and from his perspective the speaker gave the impression that he had seen combat before. Coulson listened as the voice spoke in a serious commanding, but non-threatening tone in normal English — which had caused more than a few people's heads to turn at this revelation. The words spoken by themselves seemed so inconsequential, but put together they contained the power to change the world and the human race.

_"This is Captain Paul Coleiro, commander of the Robotech Expeditionary Force Cruiser Arcadia… I am addressing this message to the United States of America and the people of Earth…"_

**oOoOo**

Paul looked at the faces of everyone assembled in the large conference room. He could feel their eyes on him as he looked around. He didn't recognize some of the faces and realized that they must be from the group of recent arrivals. There was one face he looked for and hoped to see in the crowd but wasn't there.

He fought to keep the disappointment from showing at not seeing Faith with the others. He had tried to talk to her, but she'd refused to even speak to him. He knew that he deserved it and he would have spent more time trying to convince her to speak to him, but that was the one commodity that they didn't have. He had put his personal problems on the back burner and refocused himself on the more immediate threat.

"Alright everyone, we're expecting at least twenty-five Mollusk Carriers to be arriving here in the next four hours…needless to say we've planned a warm reception for them." Paul said with a slight smirk.

His comment brought a few smiles and chuckles from the gathered crowd. Paul nodded and Lieutenant Hanson activated the display board showing the positions of Earth, the moon, the projected Invid transition point and the REF ships. Paul gave everyone a moment to orient themselves before continuing.

"Our plan is to hit them hard when they arrive and not give them any time to recover and organize. We have all the Reflex warheads in place to cover the projected transition area. Once they arrive we will detonate and hopefully catch them all in the blast area," Paul let the display update to show the change in dispositions and then continued, "The Arcadia will take a position outside the blast area, but within gun and missile range to immediately engage any survivors. If we cannot destroy or hold back the Invid, the Arcadia will conduct a fighting withdrawal away from Earth."

Once again Paul paused as he let the display progress to show the withdrawal of the Arcadia away from Earth, "We will draw the Invid away from Earth along this path…we have placed one of the heavily damaged Garfish there and rigged it to explode. The plan is to draw the Invid toward this area and we will launch our shadow drones to engage and get the enemy to close in. Six of the drones will have Beta modules attached and they will each be carrying a Reflex warhead. The warhead carrying drones will take positions on the periphery of the Invid fleet. When they are in the killzone the cruiser and all the warheads will detonate destroying the remaining Invid."

Paul was interrupted by a hand going up and a voice speaking up, "Sir, what about us?"

Paul looked in the direction of the voice and picked out Lieutenant-Commander Wright. Paul had only had a chance to briefly meet with the Lt.-Commander and bring him up to speed on where they were and what the situation was that they were facing. Considering that Wright's Commander was dead and he found himself in command of his ship in a different universe facing an Invid attack, he seemed to be doing quite well.

"Lieutenant-Commander, I will be creating a small task force with you in command. The task force will consist of the Dolphin and the other three least damaged ships. You will take your task force to designated point Lambda away from Earth and the Invid fleet. We will be transferring, supplies and fighters along with some of the pilots that have been recovered to those ships. Damage control teams will also be assigned to repair your ships and bring them up to combat readiness. If more Invid ships arrive and we are unable to destroy them with both minefields, the Arcadia will rendezvous with you to continue engaging the Invid at range and head deeper into space away from Earth."

"What if the Invid don't follow you and turn and attack Earth?" Wright asked.

Paul's face got a grim look. "We have sent a warning to Earth and provided them all the technical details on the Invid. We have been monitoring their military communications traffic and they are preparing the forces they have…" he paused looking around at everyone in the room, "If the Invid attack Earth, we are their best hope for defeating them. The Arcadia will link up with the Dolphin's task force and we will make our repairs and increase our force strength before we hit back. We have placed the remaining damaged cruisers into a geostationary orbit around the moon. They should be able to hold that orbit for several months. We can use the equipment and supplies on those ships if we have to conduct operations on the planet."

Paul finished his briefing looking around meeting the eyes that looked at him for hope, guidance and reassurance, "Okay people, we're as ready as we're going to be…dismissed!"

He watched as the conference room emptied, he had a slight twinge of guilt that he'd held back the fact that he would be leading the drones if the first minefield failed, but he knew that he if told them there would be a line of pilots volunteering to fly with him or in his place. He'd been honest when he'd told Faith that he was beyond his life expectancy. He knew that he was at the end…he could feel the years catching up to him. He'd given too many orders that had resulted in other people's deaths over the years and if he could save everyone by giving his life then he would make the sacrifice. The only thing that had given him strength and hope in the longest time was being with Faith and he'd screwed it up royally.

_Maybe it's a sign that it wasn't meant to be…_

He also knew that Hanson would order the Arcadia to engage the Invid once they found out he'd left the ship, so he'd put in place a plan to make sure that the ship stayed out of harm's way. He knew that he was abusing his authority and violating numerous regs with his plan, but he didn't care anymore.

_What does it matter? Who's going to court-martial me anyway…not that I'm going to survive…_

Actually the latest simulations that Paul had run had given him a less than 2% chance of survival if he positioned his fighter at the right place in the killzone and pulled out before detonation. He'd actually laughed at that. He knew that getting his fighter into that exact position in the middle of a fight was next to impossible.

_Maybe we'll get lucky..._

His thoughts were interrupted by a voice.

"Sir, you okay?"

Paul turned to find Chief Larson giving him a look, "What is it Chief?"

"I just wanted to make sure that you're okay... I heard that things are bad between you and Faith."

Paul's eyes went wide in surprise as he couldn't believe anyone knew about what had happened, "Uh…w-what're you talking about?"

"Well word from the rumor mill is that you had Buffy in your cabin…Faith went in and then came running out shortly looking upset followed by Buffy. I just put two and two together and knowing your past history it doesn't take a Doctor Lang to figure out what went down." she answered shaking her head slowly.

Paul exhaled deeply as he sat against a table, "I screwed up Chief…I don't know what the hell I was thinking."

Rachel joined the Captain sitting beside him, "You can't worry about her right now. I…we need to know that you're focused on the Invid. That's the priority right now. We can't have you wandering the corridors like some love sick teenager."

A grim look came over Paul's face, "I know what I have to do, Chief… I've never forgotten my duty and responsibilities."

"Good to hear," Rachel said nodding. She paused for a moment and then suddenly reached back and slapped the back of Paul's head really hard.

"OW! Damn it, Chief!"

"That's for screwing up! How bad was it?"

Paul was rubbing the spot on the back of his head, "It actually wasn't that bad…I stopped it before we went too far…we still had our clothes on." he said sheepishly.

Rachel rolled her eyes and started clapping her hands sarcastically causing Paul's cheeks to redden, "Well damn, it's nice to know that you're showing some semblance of self-control as you get older."

"Cut it out, Chief! I know I screwed up," Paul paused letting out a deep sigh, "Maybe it's a good thing…she's quite a bit younger than I am."

Rachel turned and gave Paul a hard serious look, "What the hell does age have anything to do with it!? You and Faith were…are a good fit and to be honest I actually like her. I would have been more worried if you were hooking up with some of those younger girls…that would lead to nothing but trouble."

"What do I do, Chief? She won't speak to me. There was a time that I would know what to do and say, but with her…it's different."

Rachel snorted, "Love can be a bitch. The first thing is to keep your mind and game on dealing with the Invid. After that you can spend all your time trying to patch things up with her…which will probably entail a lot of groveling and apologizing."

Paul couldn't help himself as a small smile came to his face, "Thanks Chief. I appreciate the advice."

Rachel mirrored his smile, "Anytime, sir."

**oOoOo**

As Buffy entered the lounge, she quickly found Faith standing looking out the observation window at the blackness of space. For a moment she hesitated approaching her fellow Slayer, but she knew that she had to do something as she shared the blame for what had happened back in Paul's cabin. Buffy had tried to catch up with Faith, but she'd given her the slip and had managed to avoid her up until now.

During that time, Buffy had the opportunity to reflect on what had occurred with Paul and even though she felt guilty about betraying Faith, there was a part of her that would still have done it and gone further. She understood what Faith saw in Paul and she still felt a twinge of jealousy and desire stab at her, but she saw the look on Paul's face and knew that he was hooked on Faith. She would tell Faith the truth and hopefully that would make things better so they could work things out.

Buffy approached Faith slowly and cautiously from behind, but she wasn't that surprised as Faith spoke up without turning to face her.

"Leave me alone!"

"F-Faith…we need to talk. Please, I want a chance to explain."

Faith turned and Buffy could see the anger in her eyes along with the obvious signs that she'd been crying, "What's to talk about? You win again…you get everything and I get nothing." she said in a tired angry voice.

Buffy felt the stinging rebuke and all the old skeletons came tumbling out of the closet. She took a deep breath to push through the old grudges, hates and differences as this time it was different, "I...we didn't mean to do anything, it just happened."

"Yeah right!" Faith said with angry sarcasm dripping in her voice.

"I came back from a rescue mission on one of their ships and I was a mess from some of the things I saw. Paul saw I was in trouble and helped me…if you'd come in earlier you would have found me bent over his toilet throwing up my guts and crying."

"You losing it? Bullshit!"

"Damn it! It's true…seeing the people dead on that other ship. I hadn't felt that helpless in a long time and it hit me hard and Paul gave me a chance to pull myself together," Buffy paused to gather the strength to say what she needed to say, "I'm not going to lie to you…I wanted Paul and a part of me still wants him, but he's the one that stopped it before we went any farther."

"Yeah right!"

"Believe whatever you want, but the truth is that he stopped because he loves you! Hasn't he told you?"

Faith's angry look suddenly changed into more of a sheepish one as the question hit home on her feelings toward Paul. She'd been caught completely unprepared for how much it had hurt when she'd heard Paul and Buffy and seen him walk out of the bathroom. She had spent the last few hours going back and forth between anger and crying, but not all of that was reserved for Paul. Some of it was reserved for herself for getting involved with him and putting herself in a position to get hurt once again. She had kept telling herself that what they were doing meant nothing at all to her, but she could hear a little voice in the back of her head laughing at her.

"He's tried to tell me… I-I've cut him off every time…" Faith said with a sigh.

Buffy would like to have said she was shocked, but she actually wasn't surprised by Faith's response, "Why?" she asked.

"B-Because I don't do relationships. You…me, being Slayers has given us such lousy luck with men. I'm tired of meeting guys that think they can change me into some type of Suzie-homemaker drone. I'm tired of trying to find a guy that gets me."

Buffy couldn't help herself as she laughed, "I think you need to rethink your feelings toward Paul. Wasn't he the guy that gave you a Cyclone and provided training for you to use it?"

"Y-Yeah, but that's different." Faith said trying to defend her position, but her mind replayed the memories of him giving her the motorcycle and helping her with the training.

Buffy shook her head, "I made the same mistake with Riley… I don't know if we would still be together, but I didn't give it a chance. When I finally realized what I wanted…he was gone. Now he's married and all I have left are the occasional dreams of what might have been."

Faith felt herself being pulled in all directions. She wanted to be with Paul, but she found herself afraid. The pain of seeing Paul in that situation with Buffy was something she didn't want to experience again.

"I'm still pissed at the both of you!"

Buffy sighed, "You have every right to be and I'm sorry for what happened as I know Paul is," she paused for a moment, "You can decide to not be with him ever again, but at least speak to him before you decide."

"I-I'm not sure I want to."

"Faith…you better decide what you want soon because if you take too long and keep brushing Paul off, you will really lose him. Then you'll be left with nothing but memories and asking yourself 'what if'."

**oOoOo**

Coulson looked around the command center. A cloud of fear and uncertainty hung over the room. Talking was taking place in hushed whispers. He glanced towards the digital clock, it was now thirty minutes past the deadline that the Arcadia had said that the Invid would be arriving. The General almost jumped as a voice spoke from behind him.

"What's your take on this?"

Coulson regained his composure as he turned towards the SECDEF, who showed a glimmer of a small tired smile at seeing he'd caught the military man by surprise.

"I think we wait…all our radar and observation stations report that the Arcadia has taken up a holding position near the designated co-ordinates." Coulson replied.

The SECDEF nodded, "I concur, but the President is getting nervous. The press has gone into hysterical overdrive over his speech about imminent alien invasion. Reports of riots and looting breaking out are becoming more numerous. If that wasn't bad enough, since the deadline the VP and some of the Joint Chiefs are screaming that this is all a ruse by the Arcadia for them to attack."

"Sir, if I may suggest. I think we should try to open communications with them to get a clearer idea of what is going on."

"That's a good idea, General. I think yo—" the SECDEF started to say as a cry went out from one of the monitoring stations.

"Sir! Sirs! Deep space radar is picking up something!"

**oOoOo**

Faith had spent the last couple of hours wandering the ship deep in thought. She found herself thinking over what Buffy had said. She was still angry and upset, but she was finding herself in more control of her emotions and able to think somewhat rationally.

She'd been so focused on her problems that she wasn't paying direct attention to the announcements coming over the ship's PA system. Her mind took note of the words Invid and the time being announced but it didn't click in. She absent-mindedly noted the crewmen rushing past her to their stations as she kept walking. The warning that Buffy had given her about waiting too long rang through her head and she finally decided that she needed to talk it out with Paul.

_Buffy's right…if this is going to end I need to at least face him and speak to him…_

She didn't notice the strange looks she got from the crewmen as she rode the elevator to the bridge. As she stepped out of the elevator, she was surprised by how many people were on the bridge and how busy it was. She saw Paul at his command station with Lieutenant Hanson standing beside him with the two of them talking in low voices. She saw the worried concerned looks on their faces, her thoughts were still focused on her personal problems that she didn't make the connection.

Paul was caught a little by surprise as Lieutenant Hanson suddenly got a strange look on his face and looked towards the back of the bridge. Paul turned and his eyes went wide in surprise seeing Faith step on to the bridge. He found himself filled with mix emotions at seeing her. He was glad she had come to see him, but her timing couldn't have been worse.

"Sir?" Aaron asked questioningly inclining his head towards Faith.

"I'll take care of it Mister Hanson." Paul said as he stood up and moved towards Faith. He could feel his heart pounding harder as he got closer to her seeing how she was looking at him. He didn't know what was worse…waiting for the Invid — who were already running late — or the conversation he had to have with her.

"We need to talk." Faith said in a calm voice as Paul stopped within arm's length reach of her.

"This isn't the best time or place…" he said caught by surprise by her sense of timing.

She was surprised and taken a little aback by his abrupt tone, "Huh?"

Paul couldn't help himself as he rolled his eyes and let out a little sigh, "You do remember the Invid?"

It took a moment for everything to click back into place and Faith suddenly realized why the bridge was busy and Paul was looking so tense. She suddenly felt a little stupid as her personal problems had completely overshadowed the threat they all faced, "I'm sorry…" she said.

Paul suddenly felt like jerk for being so abrupt with her as he saw the look on her face, "No…it's okay. I want to talk. I really do, but now isn't the time."

"What's wrong?" she asked becoming aware of the situation and the tension around her.

"The Invid are late… Commander Schmidt is rerunning his calculations as we always knew that it was only an estimated time, but—"

Paul never got a chance to finish his sentence as one of the sensor operators shouted out, "Captain! We're picking up an increase in energy emissions!"

Both of them turned to face the front of the bridge. Faith found herself holding her breath as she watched Paul go back to his station. She moved to stand behind his station, but out of the way of the rest of the bridge crew as he asked for status updates. It started to feel surreal for her as she heard other stations reporting in.

"…Energy emissions increasing."

"…Energy spike! We have transition!"

"…Confirmed, sensors getting hard returns on targets! Computer ID confirms Mollusk-class Carriers!"

"Get me a count?" Paul ordered.

"Ten…sixteen…twenty-two…twenty-nine… Jesus! Forty-two! Confirmed we have forty-two Invid Carriers in system!" reported the sensor operator.

"Confirm their position with the position of our mines?" Paul ordered.

"Confirmed, sir! All ships are within the minefield!"

Paul paused for a second as he looked out the bridge observation window towards the area of space where the Invid Carriers and mines were located.

"Execute…" he said in a firm low voice.

Thirty one-megaton Reflex warheads simultaneously went off, instantaneously creating a new sun that caused the bridge crew to turn away even with the observation windows automatically dimming to reduce the blinding glare.

The temporary sun was easily visible from the portion of Earth that was facing towards it. Everyone — humans, vampires and demons — were aware of the threat that had been announced. Most huddled in fear and uncertainty, but there were a few that had disbelieved and scoffed at the reports. The sudden appearance of a new sun followed by the hysterical news reports caused the world to hold its collective breath and wait for what would happen next.

Even though the Arcadia was outside the effective blast radius of the minefield, the detonation of that many Reflex warheads still created a huge blast wave that spread out in all directions. The ship was caught by the wave, rocking it hard.

"REPORT!" Paul ordered as he held on. He'd turned and saw Faith holding on to the back of his chair. She looked pale as she stared to where the warheads had detonated. She finally made eye contact with him and nodded, still in a little awe at the power she'd seen unleashed.

"Sir, we're getting a lot of interference on the sensors. Have to wait a few minutes for everything to settle down." reported the sensor operator.

The seconds seemed to crawl by turning into minutes. The bridge was eerily quiet except for the background sound of equipment running as no one said a word as they were afraid to jinx it. Paul finally broke the silence.

"Status of Invid fleet?" he asked.

"Interference is clearing…" there was a long pause, "SIR! All Invid ships are gone! Just picking up debris!"

It took a moment for the words to sink in and suddenly the bridge erupted with everyone cheering wildly. Paul stood up turning to Lieutenant Hanson holding out his hand, "Well done Mister Hanson…" he said with a huge grin.

Aaron returned the huge grin exhaling as he shook the Captain's hand, "Thank you, sir."

Paul turned seeing Faith looking at him. She still had a look of awe on her face, but he saw the relief and the beginnings of a smile on her face.

_Maybe we have a chance_, he thought as the tension left his body and the thought that maybe he and Faith could work things out came back to the forefront. Out of reflex, his hand moved to the small device in his pocket that he'd prepared as a part of his contingency plan and now there appeared no need for it. He would now be able to tell her the words he'd recorded. Paul was about to ask Lieutenant Hanson to take the bridge and stand down from battle stations when a cry went out from the sensor station cutting off the cheering and celebrating.

"SIR! WE'RE GETTING ANOTHER ENERGY SPIKE! WE'VE GOT ANOTHER TRANSITION OCCURRING!"

Paul could feel all the color drain from his face as he quickly returned to his command chair, "REPORT! WHAT'S HAPPENING?"

It took what seemed like a long moment before the sensor operator reported back. The crewman's voice dripped with fear and dread as she spoke shaking her head almost refusing to believe what she was seeing on her display screen.

"Twenty-one… Sir, I've got twenty-one Mollusk-class Carriers in system…"


	35. Contingency Plan…

**Author's Notes: See the poll on my profile page. Looking at feedback and to see how much interest there is in me writing a sequel to this story.**

**oOoOo**

**CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE:**

**Contingency Plan…**

"_…The fourth stage Invid is a completely humanoid being and represents the Invid in their natural form. Although appearing humanoid, the Invid is distinct in its appearance with a long muscular neck, slug-like head, large bulbous eyes and saggy, grey-brown skin. The body is barrel chested, with thick, bulky limbs and they will range in height from 5 to 6 feet. This evolutionary stage of Invid acts as the Captains and technicians of the species. Its intellect is high and it is capable of independent thinking and reasoning similar to humans, which means it can assimilate information and act on it…_"

— excerpt from the REF Field Guide (Tirol, 2036)

**oOoOo**

The command center in the Pentagon had been in a state of shock as deep space radar reported the appearance of over forty huge ships. There was a moment where the doubt and panic threatened to engulf everyone, but that quickly turned to shock and awe when the mines were detonated. It took some time for the interference to clear and when it was confirmed that the alien ships had been all destroyed the room had broken out in pandemonium of wild cheering.

Like the bridge of the Arcadia, everyone was celebrating when the news that more alien ships had arrived, struck them like a dagger blow. They watched in stunned silence as their display screen showed the large formation of alien ships moving towards the Arcadia and Earth.

**oOoOo**

"Get me firing solutions on those Carriers!" Paul ordered

"Aye, sir!"

"Once we have target lock, open fire. Maintain fire, but keep a twenty percent reserve of anti-ship missiles.

Faith watched as Paul snapped out orders and the bridge crew moved as one to respond and carry out their orders. She felt the ship shudder and caught a glimpse as the first wave of missiles roared out of the vertical launch tubes at the front of the ship. It felt all surreal going from one moment where they had been on the cusp of victory to now facing another large enemy fleet. She watched as space erupted in small miniature suns from the missiles and the plasma fire.

"Sir! The Invid Carriers are advancing on our position!"

Paul nodded his understanding, "Okay helm, get us on a heading to pass by our dead Garfish. Not too fast…keep the distance, but we want them to follow us."

"Aye, sir."

"Sir, several of the Carriers have deployed their fighters to act as a shield to absorb our fire."

"Understood, maintain fire." Paul ordered.

Within minutes the weapons officer reported, "Sir, we're at 20% of anti-ship missiles left."

Paul swore to himself as he'd hoped to keep up the missile fire longer, "Status of Invid fleet?"

"Sensors show we got five hard kills, showing at least three more Carriers slowing…indicating damage."

"Continue firing with main turrets. Sensors, let me know if any of the Invid ships change direction or fall out of formation."

Paul paused for a second as the reality of the situation hit him. The whole moment seemed to slow down and he became hyper-aware of everything and everyone around him. He glanced towards Faith as he spoke, "How long till we pass the Garfish?" he asked.

"Twenty minutes at current speed, sir."

The words hit him like a hammer, but he didn't give away any hints of his feelings. _Twenty minutes…so little time left_, he thought trying to keep his emotions in control as his eyes darted to Faith.

"Inform the hanger deck to prepare to launch drones and have them keep formation with us until we pass by the wreck…"

"Yes, sir."

"Let me know when we're fifteen minutes out." Paul asked almost as an afterthought.

"Aye, sir"

**oOoOo**

On board one of the Invid Carriers, its operator was struggling to cope with an increasing confusing and perplexing situation she had found itself in. Tashe was what humans classified as a 4th stage Invid. She had been a soldier since birth and had been lucky enough to have survived the wars against the Robotech Masters and Zentraedi to be selected by the Regess to be evolved to this level.

When Tashe had been raised in the Regess's Genesis Pit to her current stage of evolution, she'd been given the choice between continuing as a soldier or becoming a part of the scientist caste. At the time she had no doubts in choosing to remain a warrior, but there were times when a part of her found herself wondering what it would be like to have chosen differently. These occasional doubts did not detract from her loyalty and dedication to the Regess and her race as she'd continued her service against the latest enemy that her species faced…_humans_.

What bothered and confused her at this moment was the fact that most of the fleet was missing. The readings on her ship's navigation display panels were showing that they were not where they'd been before having caught up in a strange effect that had emanated from one of the human ships. What was most disturbing was that the telepathic voice of the Regess was faint and somehow _different_. Tashe tried to communicate with the other Carrier pilots to discuss this situation, but a human ship had attacked them and the other pilots followed their species imperative and attacked the threat. Tashe followed as best as she could as her ship had been damaged in the first human salvo.

The situation still bothered her as she ordered her crew to perform repairs to keep up with the rest of the ships. She looked at her sensor and navigation displays and according to the readouts, they were in the system where the Regess had found a planet that hosted the Flower of Life in abundance. There were several problems that they were facing. The only Protoculture being detected was coming from several sources in space and not the planet. The other problem — which was major — she could not sense the Regess anywhere in the system. She could hear the Regess's mind calling out over the vastness of space, but it was like it had been _blocked_ and what she could pick out was garbled and did not make any sense. She tried to communicate this unsettling news to the other ship pilots, but they took this to mean that the humans had done something to their Regess and that fueled their hate and rage as they pushed their ships to close the range with the single human ship to unleash their fighters and destroy it. The other pilots contended that once the human ship was destroyed they would be able to communicate with the Regess and they would then deal with the planet.

Tashe could hear the voices of the Invid, that manned the mecha she carried on her ship, cry out. They were crying out as they could not hear the Regess's voice at all. She quickly postulated that her stage of evolution was allowing her to hear the limited amount that she was hearing while those Invid that were at lower stages of evolution were completely blocked from hearing their Queen's voice in their minds. This was completely unprecedented as _no one_…not even the Robotech Masters at the height of their powers had been able to block the Regess's telepathic link with her children.

Tashe had to do something and she acted quickly reaching out with her mind to touch the minds of the Invid she carried. She spoke to them to soothe and calm them as the fleet moved to engage the human ship. As she talked to her mecha pilots, she tried to reach out to the Regess again. She found herself straining and pushing herself beyond what she thought was possible. She was finally able to hear a couple of words that made some sense, but they only alarmed her more.

_Help us…_

**oOoOo**

Paul felt the seconds tick away as he watched the display and could see that the Arcadia was closing with the wrecked Garfish that was to be at the center of his trap.

"We're fifteen minutes out, sir."

_Now or never_, he thought as he got up out of his command chair.

"Mister Hanson…you have the bridge."

"Sir?" Aaron said in a confused voice as he turned to face the Captain.

"I have to double check something in the War Room. I'll be back before the fireworks go off." Paul said giving the young Lieutenant a smirk.

"Yes, sir."

Paul turned to head for the elevator and felt Faith trailing behind him. He stopped turning to face her, "Where do you think you're going?" he said giving her a bit of an irritated scowl.

"With you…I thought we might get a quick moment to…um…talk about what happened." she said.

He gave his best poker face as he fought the urge to grab her in his arms and hug her tightly. There was so much he wanted to tell her and he was struck by how much he was afraid at that moment. It took all his self-control to appear calm and keep his voice from breaking.

"I need you to wait here…I have to take care of this. Okay?" he said in a quiet plain voice giving her a small smile.

Faith felt strangely as Paul smiled at her. A part of her wanted to say something really important to him. The small voice in her head was telling her that something was wrong, but she brushed it away as he smiled at her and reached out and grabbed her hand squeezing it tightly for a moment before letting go.

For some strange reason she followed just behind him, watching as he walked away and got on the elevator. She found their eyes meeting just before the door closed and saw him give her one last small smile as the doors closed.

It only took Paul nearly two minutes to reach the hanger deck level. He went to the nearest communications panel and typed in commands. He'd worked out the planning and timing and he knew it was going to be close. He waited in the shadows in a side corridor as he saw the hanger bay door open and Chief Larson come out walking at a brisk pace headed for the elevator to take her to the bridge.

_Everything is on automatic now_, he thought as he took a deep breath. He was hit with a moment of doubt in what he was doing. His mind tried to list all the rational reasons that he was choosing to do this, but it all came down to the memory of holding Sonia, dying in his arms. He wasn't going to repeat that mistake with Faith. He would do whatever it took to keep her safe. He smirked at that thought, because he knew she would argue that she didn't need being protected and she was more than capable of taking care of herself.

Several more minutes went by and the hanger door opened again, this time Lieutenant Evans and Xander hurried out also on their way to the bridge.

_Just five more minutes…_

**oOoOo**

Aaron's eyes were glued to the main display showing the remaining Invid Carriers trying to close the range with them. They'd managed to kill another two Carriers along with damaging several others, but the fighters that the Invid had launched was soaking up their fire.

He kept monitoring the status of the drone fighters and the rapidly closing distance with the wrecked Light Cruiser. Once the Arcadia past by the wreck, the drones would peel off and circle the wreck with the warhead carrying drones moving to take preprogrammed positions that would have the exploding warheads overlap each other. He was still a little puzzled that the Captain had taken this moment to leave the bridge and go to the War Room, but he filed it away for follow up later on. He was silently praying that this plan worked as well as the first minefield as he shuddered at the thought of what would happen if the Invid turned on Earth. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts and watching the displays that he didn't hear the elevator open. He was caught by surprise when he heard Chief Larson's voice.

"Chief Larson reporting as ordered."

Aaron turned around and looked at the Chief puzzled by why she was up on the bridge.

"What're you doing up here Chief? I thought you would be on the hanger deck at a time like this." the Lieutenant asked in a puzzled and confused voice.

Larson had a puzzled look on her face as well as she shrugged, "Normally I would be, sir. But I received orders to report to the bridge ASAP."

Aaron was shaking his head now feeling even more confused, "I don't know what you're talking about Chief…we didn't send any orders and I'm not aware of any orders for you to come to the bridge."

Faith was hanging off to the side, watching and trying to not get in the way. She still felt strange about how Paul left the bridge. She'd finally decided that she didn't want to end things with him. She was still angry, but knowing how he'd cared about her and that he'd actually stopped himself before he'd gone further with Buffy was bringing her around.

_God knows, I've made more than my fair share of mistakes…_

A part of her was telling herself that what Paul and she had was more than just a fling. She realized she wanted more for as long as they could get it.

_I'm going to tell him how I feel…_

She wasn't going to use the "L" word, but this was a huge step for her just to get this far. A wicked thought entered her mind of how she could make Paul squirm to make amends to her.

_They say make-up sex is great… I can't wait to give it a try_, she thought as a smile came to her face as her imagination ran wild.

Even with her imagination going off into X-rated territory, she caught Chief Larson coming onto the bridge. At first she didn't think anything of it, but she overheard their conversation and a small voice in the back of her head was starting to yell warnings.

"Where's the Captain?" she overheard Chief Larson ask Lieutenant Hanson.

The yelling in her head had now changed to screaming as she stepped forward to join their conversation. She saw the puzzled looks on their faces and an unexplained feeling of dread ran through her body.

"He said he had to leave the bridge to go to the War Room to take care of something…said he would be right back."

"The Captain said he had to leave the bridge? With the Invid closing in on us?" Larson said with a mixed look of surprise and worry.

Faith heard the Chief and she suddenly feel her heart tighten, _He wouldn't do something stupid? Would he?_

It was at that moment that the ship's navigator spoke up, "Sir! Engines have just increased speed!"

Hanson was now really confused, "I didn't order an increase!"

"I know, sir! It just started all on its own!"

"Well adjust speed back to where it was… We want to keep drawing the Invid towards us, not leave them behind." Aaron ordered.

"I'm trying, sir! But I'm locked out of helm controls!"

"Well override damn it!" Aaron ordered, his frustration becoming evident.

"Trying to sir, but looks like senior command-level authorization is required!"

"Well keep working on it! We need control back!"

"Aye, sir!"

Faith was watching the unfolding situation and she felt her feeling of dread now joined by an icy cold feeling crawling up her spine. She was about to say something, when Cassie followed by Xander entered the bridge.

"Lieutenant Evans reporting as ordered." she said coming to attention by Aaron.

Aaron was only half paying attention as his main focus and concern was on trying to get back control of his ship and also wondering where the Captain was.

"Huh… What're you doing up here Lieutenant?" Aaron asked absently as his eyes were glued to the main display screen and listening to the bridge crew as they tried to override the control lockouts.

"I said I was ordered to report to the bridge, sir." Cassie said looking puzzled at the unfolding scene of confusion in front of her.

Aaron's frustration and helplessness finally boiled over and he vented some of that frustration on Lieutenant Evans, "No one here ordered you to the bridge…you must have heard wrong!"

Xander didn't appreciate the tone Aaron had used on Cassie and even though he was aware of how the military operated, he wasn't a part of the military and he wasn't going to stand by while his "girl" got dumped on.

"She didn't hear wrong. I heard the call too. It was the Captain ordering Cassie…uh…I mean Lieutenant Evans and me to the bridge."

Larson had a real bad feeling as she'd known the Captain for a long time. She shook her head as her mind quickly deduced what he was planning to do.

_Damn it! He would do something this stupid!_

"I'm going back down to the hanger deck, sir!" Larson said turning and heading for the bridge elevator. Faith had seen the look of alarm and worry on the Chief's face and her own growing worries and fears fed off them.

"I think I'll go with you." Faith said turning to follow Larson.

They reached the closed elevator door, but rather than the door opening automatically like it should, it remained closed.

"What the hell?!" Larson muttered as she went to the access panel and typed in her command code.

"What's wrong? Why isn't the door opening?" Faith asked with rapidly growing fear and worry.

"That sonofabitch! He's locked us out!"

"What do you mean…locked us out?" Faith asked puzzled.

"It means that god-damn bastard has used his command authorization codes to lock us in here and keep us from leaving!"

Everyone on the bridge heard the Chief, but it was Faith that asked the question.

"Why? Why would he do that?"

Faith felt as if her world was slipping away as she saw a sad look on the Chief's face.

"Because he's about to go and do something really stupid and insane…"

**oOoOo**

Paul was still waiting outside the main hanger bay. He knew that by now everyone that could possibly stop him was on the bridge and the system would have executed his program keeping them locked up there. He knew that they could eventually override or reprogram the system, as he hadn't had a lot of time to put his plan into place, but it would be long enough for what he needed to do.

He went over to the com panel just across from the hanger door and typed in another command code and hit enter. Immediately alarms started going off on the deck. It was only seconds before crew came rushing through the bulkhead door trying to escape the hanger deck in a rush.

Paul stepped forward catching the escaping crew by surprise, "Make sure you do a head count of everyone… Make sure that all the bulkhead doors are sealed!" he ordered.

"What about you, sir?" one of the crewmen asked worriedly.

"I'll make sure that everyone is out and then I'll make sure the doors are sealed… Don't worry about it son. You just do your duty." Paul said with a small reassuring smile as the young nervous crewman nodded and continued on towards the next bulkhead and safety.

Paul stepped into the doorway holding the door open as more hanger deck crew came streaming out in a rush.

"COM'ON EVERYBODY LET'S MOVE! WE NEED TO EVACUATE THIS DECK!" he shouted urging on his crew to move faster. The crew were reassured by the sight of their Captain standing in the bulkhead doorway, holding it open for them to escape.

**oOoOo**

"What the hell is he doing?" Aaron asked in a puzzled voice, looking at the security monitor watching the hanger crew and techs leave the hanger deck in a rush.

"He's making sure that no one can stop him from launching." Larson said sadly in a matter of fact way.

Faith knew the answer before she asked the question, but her mind refused to accept what was happening, "Why…why would he do that?"

"Can we stop him from launching?" Aaron asked trying to comprehend what was happening.

Larson shook her head sadly, "We're lucky we have access to the security cameras to see him…we might have access to the com circuit on the hanger deck, but we're locked out of everything else."

"Open a com channel to the hanger deck!" Hanson ordered.

"Aye, sir!"

"Captain… Captain Coleiro… Whatever you're planning on doing sir, please stop it and give us back control of the ship! Captain please respond!"

**oOoOo**

Buffy had been wandering the ship, dealing with her own thoughts, feelings and desires. She was wrestling to push down a little jealous voice that hoped that Faith would dump Paul to give her a window of opportunity as she found herself recalling quite vividly how she'd felt when he'd touched and kissed her. She'd heard the announcements about the Invid attack and found herself feeling completely useless. She'd decided to find Xander and talk to him to get the standard "I told you so" along with his reassurance and a hug. She was getting close to the hanger deck, when alarms went off filling the corridors. She had no idea what was happening and was shocked to see a crowd of crewmen come rushing towards her. She quickly stepped out of the way as the crew rushed by. As the crewmen rushed by she caught snippets of words.

"…hull breach…"

"…venting air…"

"…Captain is back there."

Mention of Paul caught her attention, but she found herself torn. Images of the dead woman from the other ship hit her and she found herself in a unique situation — she didn't know what to do. She decided to go with her instincts and started moving against the crowd, towards the hanger. She wanted to see if she could help, but she also wanted to make sure that Paul was alright. She still felt that she owed him something for the way he'd helped her. She was surprised to feel a slight stab of pain at the thought of something happening to him. She quickly brushed off the distracting thoughts as she made her way to the hanger bay.

As she got closer the numbers of crewmen passing her dwindled until she was all by herself. She hadn't seen Paul go by and she started to get a worried feeling that maybe something had happened to him. She was hoping that it was nothing or that he'd gone in a different direction. Buffy found herself a little leery of continuing on as this wasn't like stalking vampires or demons and she had no desire to experience exposure to space first-hand without a suit.

She was taking it cautiously as she approached the hanger bay. The alarms suddenly cut-off startling her, she was surprised to hear a voice lightly echoing down the corridor. She turned the corner and was surprised to see Paul standing in the doorway to the hanger, forcing the door to remain open. Her attention was drawn to the voice coming through the com system on the wall calling for the Captain and asking him what he was doing. She was confused when the voice said something about giving back control of the ship.

Buffy got a bad feeling at what was happening, but she was unsure of what was going on. She knew she had to do something and decided to confront Paul.

**oOoOo**

Paul took one last look around the hanger bay to make sure everyone had evacuated. It had been easy enough to program the alarms to go off faking a hull breach. The key was to make sure everyone got out and that no brave person decided to stick around and discovering what was really happening.

He heard Lieutenant Hanson's voice calling through the com system. He had managed to lockout all the other com panels except for the ones on the hanger deck. He wasn't worried about the ship or the crew being permanently locked out as he had prearranged for a signal to be sent to release control back when it was time. He knew that he couldn't cover or account for every contingency or emergency, but he had tried to ensure that if the ship was in danger that all controls would be restored. He hadn't locked out the weapons or shield systems. It was just the navigation, engine and security controls that he had overridden just long enough for him to execute this one final mission.

_Yup…you've accounted for everything_, his thoughts wondered to how everyone, especially Chief Larson and Faith would take what he was doing.

He was surprised when he heard a voice behind him, "Whatcha up to Captain?"

**oOoOo**

Faith had been trying — and failing — to keep herself calm as she watched Paul through the security feeds. She didn't know exactly what he was planning on doing, but whatever it was she had an overwhelming feeling of dread threatening to swallow her up. In frustration she had tried opening the emergency access bulkhead door to get out. She had tried to pull the door open, by herself at first then Chief Larson, Xander and Cassie joined her briefly to help.

Faith could feel her muscles strain and burn as she put all her strength into opening the heavy blast door. She could feel her eyes start to burn and the urge to scream out in frustration as she managed to pry open the heavy armored door a few inches. She stopped as her muscles screamed in protest to rest. She found herself completely helpless, not knowing what was going to happen next. She hated herself for being so weak when she needed to be strong. She was about to take another crack at the door when Cassie grabbed her attention. She made her way over to join her and she was surprised to see Buffy and Paul, on the security monitor, in the corridor just outside the hanger bay.

She breathed a huge sigh of relief as she knew that Buffy would stop him and things would get back to normal. She watched the security camera feed and saw Buffy and Paul looking at each other and talking. She couldn't make out what they were saying to each other, but the fear, helplessness and panic started growing again.

**oOoOo**

Paul looked at Buffy and cursed himself for getting caught so close to his objective. He knew he didn't have much time and a lot of lives were on the line.

"I asked you, whatcha you doing?" Buffy asked as she moved closer and began watching Paul for any sudden movements. She didn't know what was going on, but she knew not to underestimate his skills.

Paul could see that Buffy was on her guard. He didn't have time to waste fighting with her, so he took the only approach available — the truth.

"You have to let me go." he said.

"Why? What're you doing?"

Paul sighed, "I'm doing this to save lives…yours and everybody on the ship and the planet." he said in a quiet plain voice.

Buffy was taken aback by the Captain's statement and she looked hard at him. He didn't waver as he met her look. In that moment and in that look she knew what he was planning.

"There has to be another way? You have your fighters and this ship…"

"It's not enough and I refuse to throw away anyone's life as long as I have a say in it!" Paul replied shaking his head.

"If it's not enough, how are you going to stop them?"

"Because I will…"

Paul had said those last words quietly but with firmness and conviction. Buffy recalled what he'd told her when she'd lost it. She saw his face and heard the tone in his voice. She recalled that he told her that he would do anything to win. She had wanted to believe him at the time. Now she found that she didn't have a reply or know what to say. Memories of standing on that tower with Dawn as the dimensional portal, that Glory had opened, threatened to destroy everything came rushing back. She'd made the same choice then that Paul was making now. She found it strange being on the other side and understood now how her sister had felt at that moment. All she could do was nod her head in understanding. She was surprised as he nodded in return giving her a small sad smile as he reached into his pocket and pulled something out. He then reached up to his shoulder and removed one of the badges from his uniform.

**oOoOo**

_What the hell?_

Faith was unsure of what was happening as the security camera didn't provide any audio. She saw Paul and Buffy approach each other and for a moment she had a glimmer of hope. She saw him hand something to Buffy and nod. The hope in her died and it was replaced by a growing wave of fear.

She pushed her way to the com station where the crewman was still calling for the Captain to respond. She didn't hesitate to push the crewman out of the way and stabbed the talk button for the com system. She found it hard to control her emotions as she cried out into the com channel.

"Paul, what're you doing?! Whatever you're thinking of doing…please stop it! Just come back up here and we can talk about it…we can find another way!"

She tried to keep her voice calm as she spoke, but she could feel her control starting to slip away as she watched the security camera feed. She saw Paul walk over to the com panel and for a moment she had another momentary glimmer of hope as he spoke.

"I'm sorry Faith… I-I…"

There was a long pause as she saw a strange look cross his face.

"Have a good life Faith… Be happy…you deserve happiness."

Faith felt as if she'd been stabbed in the heart. She could feel herself start to lose control as her eyes started to burn and her vision blur. Her voice started to raise as she tried to convince Paul to stay.

"Paul please… You don't have to do this!"

Her panic pleading switched targets, "Buffy… Stop him! Don't let him go! You can stop him!"

She watched the display and was stunned to see that Buffy wasn't going to stop him.

"DAMN IT BUFFY! YOU CAN STOP HIM! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON"T LET HIM GO!" she shouted angrily, her voice filled with raw emotion as she saw Paul turn and look towards the security camera one last time. She saw the small sad smile on his face.

She screamed into the com channel, "PLEASE BUFFY… I'M BEGGING YOU… STOP HIM... PLEASSSE!"

She could only watch helplessly as Paul turned and headed into the hanger bay with the bulkhead door closing behind him. She couldn't believe that this was real and refused to give up. She ran to the bulkhead door and started pulling at it again, trying to force it open. Everyone on the bridge watched in stunned silence as Faith pulled at the armored blast door, swearing, crying and screaming as she put every fiber of her being into opening the door. She still believed that if she could get it open, she could get down to the hanger deck in time and stop him from leaving her.

She finally had managed to open the door enough for her to squeeze through, when a voice called out over the deathly quiet bridge.

"He's launched…he's joining up with the drones. The Invid Carriers are closing on the wreck location…"


	36. I win…

**Author's Notes: See the poll on my profile page. Looking for feedback and to see how much interest there is in me writing a sequel to this story.**

**CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX:**

**I win…**

"_…Over the years, Faith and I have developed an understanding. Some might call it a friendship, but I think we both consider it an accommodation of common interests. Despite our past history in Sunnydale and even taking into account my "close encounter" with Paul. I think, over time, we could have worked out our differences to become friends or at least a lot closer than we are. I think that the main issue that keeps us apart was me letting Paul go on his suicide run. Despite how things turned out, I know that there is a part of her that will never forgive me for standing aside and letting him go. It wasn't easy for me either to just let him go. When I'm asleep, I still sometimes dream of that moment…I can hear Faith's voice begging me to stop him…I can recall perfectly the look on Paul's face and what he said to me. Sometimes in those dreams I stop him from leaving…sometimes it's my own voice I hear begging me to stop him…_"

— Buffy Summers

**oOoOo**

Tashe was finding herself being pulled in all directions all at once. She was trying to keep her Invid mecha pilots calm as she tried to communicate with the Regess while directing the rest of her crew to make emergency repairs and pilot her Carrier to keep up with the rest of the Invid ships that she was slowly falling further behind.

She tried communicating to the other Carrier pilots, but they were so focused on closing the range with the human ship to destroy it that they ignored her hails and calls about the situation and for them to maybe re-evaluate their position and course of action that they were taking. Tashe was all for destroying the human ship, but the circumstances they were facing and the inability to communicate with the Regess was completely out of the ordinary that maybe they had to not be so eager to fulfill their imperative.

If Tashe was human, she probably would have sighed and swore at the stubbornness of the other Carrier pilots for their narrow-minded focus on trying to catch the single human ship. But she was Invid and even with the problems and doubts she had, she strained herself and her crew to have her damaged Carrier maintain its speed. She would launch her fighters when she was in range as the imperative required.

She noted that the lead ships in their formation were just coming up on one of the smaller human ships. There was just the faintest of Protoculture signatures emanating from it, but it was apparent that the ship was heavily damaged and had been abandoned by its crew. She picked up a brief discussion from the lead Carrier pilots as to what to do with this ship. The discussion was quickly resolved as it was quickly concluded that the ship the approached was not a threat and the focus must remain on chasing down and destroying the larger ship.

She started to push the derelict human ship from her thoughts as she had more important worries and tasks to deal with, but a part of her paused as if something bad was going to happen. Before Tashe could figure out where the thought had come from, explosions ripped through the lead Carriers and fighters and warnings of more incoming missiles rippled through the group of ships.

**oOoOo**

Paul had a small predatory smile on his face as he banked his Shadow fighter to turn and make another pass at the lead Invid Carriers and fighters. He'd sent the drones in first and had them spread their fire among the leading ships. Invid fighters blew up easily caught in the barrage of attack missiles and disrupter fire. The Carriers were another matter, as they took a number hits but the size and strength of them required more missiles to destroy them than what Paul had available. He had to remind himself that the point wasn't to destroy the fighters or Carriers — though that would be a nice benefit — it was to draw the Invid to close and group together so the Reflex warheads could do the actual destruction. His advantage right now was that the Invid Protoculture sensors couldn't detect his fighter and the drones that were equipped with Shadow stealth systems.

_But that doesn't mean they still can't hit you_, Paul thought swearing as he saw one of the drone signals suddenly disappear from his sensor display screen followed quickly by another one. He saw another couple of Invid Carriers moving up with the huge clam-shaped doors opening on the top and bottom. He always found a part of himself in awe every time he saw a Mollusk open its bay doors and that moment before it launched all its fighters. He was caught a little by surprise and angry at himself as he'd underestimated the number of fighters that the Carriers had been carrying. The earlier wave of Carriers that they had been fighting before arriving in this universe had all been carrying Shock Troopers, but these carriers were loaded up with Armored Scouts which were much smaller which meant that each of these Carriers was carrying more fighters than he'd estimated — almost five time more.

He didn't have time to dwell on his mistake as the fighters disgorged from their Carriers trying to envelope him and the other fighters like a huge wave of onrushing death…

**oOoOo**

Faith stood in shock as she watched the main display screen. She watched not knowing whether to scream or throw up as her emotions and feelings felt like they were being tossed around. She saw Paul make his first pass and found herself wanting to cheer as she saw the alien ships get hit and destroyed as she felt a glimmer of hope that maybe he could destroy all the alien ships. She held back as she noticed that the bridge crew was watching in silence. She didn't understand what the problem was or what was wrong with them as Paul seemed to be taking it to the aliens. That changed as the main display screen showed two of the huge alien ships — that looked like giant clams — open up just like a clam. As the huge doors opened, the reality of the situation hit her hard and in that moment she found herself completely at a loss. She watched helplessly as huge numbers of smaller ships came swarming out of the two ships in a cloud that seemed to fill the whole display screen almost blotting out the larger ships from view. Her eyes remained locked on the screen as she heard a voice report.

"These Mollusks appear to be carrying Armored Scouts…they don't seem to be configured with boosters."

Aaron heard the report from the sensor station and swore under his breath as he realized, like the Captain, they had under-estimated the total number of fighters they would be facing, "Status of the drones carrying warheads and Invid ships?"

"Drones are moving to positions to encircle Invid fleet. Currently showing majority of their Carriers within killzone, several of the Carriers are moving slower…apparently caused by earlier battle damage."

His gaze shifted towards Faith and he stood up from the Captain's chair and moved over to her. He stood beside her and could see her eyes locked on the display screen that was transmitting video imagery from the drones carrying the warheads. So far the Captain's plan was working as all the Invid were concentrating on the attacking drones and hadn't detected the other ones. Aaron looked at Faith, he wanted to say something, but he found himself at a loss for words. He knew that it wouldn't be long as more drones were surrounded and destroyed by the overwhelming force of Invid fighters. He saw another Carrier move up and deploy another massive wave of Armored Scouts. Thoughts bounced around his head as the video showed the Captain's fighter with attached Beta module — in Battloid mode — moving across space seeming to fire in all directions.

_Even legends die…_

**oOoOo**

Paul pulled back hard on his flight stick as he slammed his throttle control forward at the same time. He dodged a stream of plasma bursts and spun his Battloid around to face the most immediate incoming threat. It seemed as if everything was moving in slow motion as his targeting system locked on to another group of Invid fighters that rushed towards him. He pressed the trigger and he felt his ship shudder as another wave of attack missiles roared out. The crowded area of space blossomed with more explosions.

Paul swore underneath his breath as he saw another one of his drones get overwhelmed and destroyed. That left three drones and himself fighting. His hands danced across his controls as he alternated firing missiles and his disrupter. The Invid attacking him were so bunched up, that every shot and missile couldn't miss.

He knew that his time was running out as he sent commands pushing his last remaining drones into the wave of oncoming Invid fighters. The remaining human fighters sent more missiles flying out that quickly ripped into the Invid ranks. Another Mollusk Carrier had moved up and its bay doors were opening releasing another wave of fighters.

The Invid fighters roared in like an angry swarm of attacking bees, ignoring the losses they were taking in order to close with their enemy. It was only a few moments later that Paul saw his remaining drones swarmed and overwhelmed by the Invid fighters destroying them, leaving just him now…alone.

_This is a good death..._

Thoughts raced through his mind as he spun his Battloid firing his disruptor again and again. Images of his family, Sonia and all the others that he'd known and lost through the years rushed through his mind, but his thoughts focused on one person…the one person that had come to mean so much to him.

Paul saw on his scanners that the _Arcadia_ was still moving at a good speed — putting even more distance between them and safely out of the kill and blast zone. He saw the incoming waves of Invid fighters and their carriers that would destroy the _Arcadia_ and her crew if he failed. They would kill them all — _they would kill her_ — if he failed. Throughout his life, death had taken away almost all of the people that he had ever cared for, the thought of losing Faith stabbed at him.

"YOU CAN'T HAVE HER!" Paul screamed at the incoming Invid fighters as he felt his anger grow and boil over.

He pressed his weapons trigger and sent out his last remaining missiles in a huge wave — catching the bunched up enemy fighters in huge explosions. He continued his maneuvers dodging the plasma shots, but the huge volume and density of Invid fire was starting to find their marks. His Battloid shuddered as it took hits — mostly on the attached Beta module. Warning lights flashed on his instrument panel as he continued to apply full thrusters, trying to keep his distance from the enemy fighters and spinning while still firing his disruptor. He knew that death was close and he was now just holding down his weapons trigger — venting his rage as he fired a continual stream of fire from his disruptor. More warning alarms went off, telling him that he was overheating his weapons system. He ignored them as he didn't care anymore.

_This is a good death…_

**oOoOo**

While Paul desperately tried to stay alive and continue fighting for a few minutes longer, the Shadow drone fighters that had been tasked with their special mission had been scanning the battle and the movements of the Invid carriers and fighters to determine the optimum approach path to avoid any interception, to take up their pre-determined position and carry out their programmed mission tasks with maximum results. The AI's finally saw that the Carriers and fighters had closed enough for them to carry out their programmed mission. The AIs noted that two of the carriers were further back struggling to close with the battle, they did a quick calculation and determined that even though there was a risk, it was within their programmed margin of error. Before caring out their final command they performed one final task as each drone sent a signal over an encrypted com channel to notify the human controller and the Arcadia that they were ready to execute their final command.

Faith along with everyone on the bridge was mesmerized as they saw the scenes of the space battle relayed back to the main video display. The bridge crew was still locked out of the navigational controls and they could only be helpless bystanders to the battle. It felt as if the battle had been going on for hours, but Faith knew that the mind could play tricks on you while fighting. Her eyes were burning and her heart was pounding as the remote video feed centered on Paul's fighter — still in Battloid mode — as it danced across space cutting into the attacking alien fighters. She felt a tightening pain in her chest as she watched him and the drone fighters with him destroy the aliens in huge numbers, but there were more — always more — still coming in. As the tightening in her chest grew, she felt overwhelming waves of anger, helplessness, fear and despair pull at her as she heard the bridge crew announce the destruction of the last drone fighter. She realized that she was hearing Paul's death sentence being announced as she watched his fighter slip and dodge away from the crab-like looking enemy ships. She found herself praying for a miracle to happen, but deep down she knew how this was going to end and it tore at her.

_Real life doesn't have happily ever after endings…_

**oOoOo**

Paul vented his hate and anger onto the incoming waves of Invid. Warning lights and alarms were screaming filling his cockpit trying to get his attention. He ignored them as he red-lined his systems desperately trying to hang on for just a few more seconds. Suddenly the signal he'd been waiting for flashed on his display screen.

_I win…_

There was a sudden moment of clarity as he realized that the warheads were mere seconds away from detonation. Time froze as a torrent of thoughts and feelings welled up. He had an image of his mother, father and baby sister smiling at him waiting for him with outstretched hands.

_Mom…Dad…Anna… I'm coming home…_

The image of his family was suddenly replaced as his thoughts turned to Faith. Regret stabbed at him as there was still so much he wanted to say and share with her. His hand stabbed for the com screen.

**oOoOo**

Faith fought to control her pain as she felt her eyes start to burn as she heard the bridge crew relay the latest updates of the situation. She tried to push everything that was happening from her mind, but she found herself hyper-aware of everything going on around her…all the bridge noises, everyone's presence. She closed her eyes, squeezing them tight, wishing that this was all a bad dream and that she would wake up in bed next to Paul. A voice speaking caused her to open her eyes in a flash.

"Arcadia… This is Reaper One…"

Faith saw Paul's face on the main communications screen at the front of the bridge. Before she or anyone else could, he spoke again.

"Faith, I'm sorry… I lo— "

The message was cut-off as another new sun was born.

**oOoOo**

A few people gasped which carried over the tomb-like quietness of the bridge as everyone looked on in shock as the realization of what happened hit them. It seemed like an eternity passed before Lieutenant Hanson finally found his voice and spoke. His voice caught as he dealt with the shock of what he'd just witnessed, "R-Report status of Invid force?"

It took a moment for the crew member manning the sensor station to recover, but her training and professionalism kicked in, "The warhead explosions have disrupted our sensors in that area space, it's hard to get a solid reading from the area, but from what we can see…we're getting no major power sources or movement. It looks like all the Invid Carriers and fighters have been destroyed."

Aaron nodded as he heard the report, this should have been a moment of success at defeating a major Invid force. Cheers should have been echoing through the bridge, but what they had witnessed and what it had cost them left a bitter taste in everyone's mouth. He didn't want to and for a moment Aaron hesitated, but he turned and looked towards Faith. He didn't know what to do or say, so he pushed those thoughts to the side as he focused on the priorities as he also dealt with the realization that he was now in command of the Arcadia.

"Helm…are we still locked out of navigation and engine controls?"

"No, sir... T-The destruction of the Invid ships…the drones must have been programmed to send a release code b-before…" the crewman couldn't finish their sentence.

Aaron nodded in understanding. A part of him wanted to turn the Arcadia around and go back to look for the Captain, but there was no point. There would be nothing but debris left drifting in space forever. He pushed the thoughts of whether he could make the same decision and sacrifice now that he was in command. He thought of Dawn and how he wished that he could hug her tightly right now and never let go as his eyes drifted over to Faith once again.

"Helm…set course to rendezvous with the Dolphin and her group."

"Yes, sir."

**oOoOo**

Faith stood there numb and in shock blocking out what the bridge crew was doing and saying. She was half aware of Chief Larson, Cassie and Xander standing close by. She found herself not knowing what to do or say as the last few minutes replayed through her mind hammering and torturing her over again. It felt all so unreal to her as she felt herself being torn apart. A part of her wanted to scream, another part refused to believe that Paul was gone.

As she tried to deal with and process what had happened, a small voice in the back of her mind said it didn't matter that Paul was gone, the voice taunted her that they'd only had sex and shared some moments together. As that small voice continued to chirp at her, she found herself feeling as if she'd just had her heart ripped out. She felt a feeling of pain, emptiness and aloneness wash over her. She'd thought she'd known what pain and loneliness was, but this feeling was something new and intense. The burning in her eyes got more intense and she found it harder to breath. It still felt all so surreal as she turned her head slowly to look at Chief Larson. The moment she saw the Chief's face, she regretted doing it as she saw the pain and anguish she was feeling mirrored in the Chief's face.

Faith forced herself to concentrate on trying to get control of the emotions she could feel building up inside fighting for release. She felt alone and adrift to their mercies not knowing what to do or where to turn to. She could feel herself about to lose control as the thought of her falling to the deck and curling up in a ball struck her with revulsion, but she found herself lost.

The bridge elevator door opened, which caught everyone's attention. Buffy entered the bridge followed by Giles and Spike. Faith stared at Buffy as if she was a complete stranger and she felt a wave of hate and anger build up and engulf her as she recalled begging over the com system for Buffy to stop Paul from going on his suicide run and how she did nothing. Before she couldn't even think about what she was doing, she was in Buffy's face.

"Why…Why the hell didn't you stop him?!" Faith said raising her voice. She'd caught everyone by surprise at how fast she'd moved to intercept Buffy. A feeling of tension and quietness hung over bridge as everyone watched the scene playing out between the two Slayers.

Buffy looked at Faith and could see the red-rimmed eyes and pain evident in her face. She had heard over the ship's com system what had happened. At the time, she hadn't known specifically what Paul had planned, but she knew what his intentions were. Memories of the pain and desperation in Faith's voice as she begged for her to stop Paul hammered at her. She knew that Paul had chosen this path and made the decision himself, but it didn't make the guilt she was feeling any easier. She'd pushed those guilty feelings and the pain she was feeling aside as she'd promised him to do what he'd asked her to do. Her hand gripped tightly the items that he'd given her before leaving the ship. Buffy wanted to say something to Faith, but she found she couldn't find the words.

"I-I…" she started to say, but Faith's angry tirade cut her off.

"You could've stopped him…! You could've have stopped him from going out there…! He didn't need to go out there and you let him go…! You could've stopped him…!" Faith ranted mindlessly as her pain and anger now had a target it could be directed at.

"Faith… I… I-I'm sorry…"

Faith's red-rimmed eyes flashed in anger and her voice went even louder, "YOU'RE SORRY!"

Giles spoke up to try and calm the situation as he could see that things were escalating with the emotions involved, "Please Faith… If you give Buffy a chance…"

"Stay out of this Giles!" Faith said angrily giving him a look that caused him to tread warily.

Faith paused and took a deep breath looking at Buffy again, "Okay… Explain to me why you let Paul go even though I begged you to stop him… Why did you let him go to go out there to die?" she said in an eerily calm voice.

Buffy took a deep breath as she tried to find the words to explain why she didn't stop the Captain, "He needed to do what he did… He had to—"

Buffy never finished her sentence as Faith punched her sending her staggering across the bridge. Buffy had seen the punch coming, but she didn't avoid it. She saw the pain and grief in Faith's face and that she was looking for an outlet for it. Buffy knew if their positions had been switched that she would probably do the same thing. She regained her balance as Faith rushed her and punched her again.

"YOU BITCH! YOU COULD'VE STOPPED HIM…YOU MIGHT AS WELL KILLED HIM YOURSELF!" Faith shouted as she grabbed Buffy by her shirt.

Spike jumped into the fight as he'd seen enough and was worried as he realized that Buffy wasn't going to fight back. He'd heard rumors of something happening between Buffy and the Captain. He was fighting to keep his own feelings of jealousy in check until he had a chance to talk to Buffy, but the misogynist part of his personality couldn't help but be impressed that the Captain had managed to do two slayers at the same time. Despite all differences between them he understood why the Captain had done what he'd done. He'd thought that the Captain was a bit of a wanker, being a hotshot fighter pilot and all, but he wouldn't have gone out on his suicide run if there hadn't been any other choice.

"Easy there, Slayer! Buffy didn't—" Spike said as he started to grab Faith to pull her off Buffy. He was caught off-guard as Faith spun and caught him in the face with her fist sending him sprawling across the bridge deck.

Xander spoke out trying to calm the situation down, "FAITH, STOP IT!"

Faith spun back to face Buffy, "COM'ON! FIGHT BACK! HIT ME!" she shouted as she punched Buffy again.

Buffy took the shot, quickly recovering her balance to face her again. She wasn't going to fight her. She knew that Faith wanted her to hit back, to hit her hard to cause her physical pain to try and take away the pain that she was feeling inside.

"No." Buffy said in a quiet voice as Faith swung at her again.

Faith felt as if she was falling off a cliff as her emotions overwhelmed her. She wanted to keep hitting Buffy. She wanted her to hit back. She wanted to feel something, anything else than what she was feeling right now.

She felt her strength and her anger waning as she felt other emotions about to erupt as she could feel her eyes burn even more as it became harder to see as she tried to fight back the tears she could feel coming. She didn't want to cry — especially over a guy. She'd already cried over Paul and a part of her hated herself for feeling this vulnerable. She hadn't cared for anyone like this before and she wanted the feeling to stop as it made her feel weak and useless.

Buffy could see Faith starting to lose her anger and give in to her grief. She had made a promise to Paul and she spoke quietly again trying to find the words, "Faith… Paul… H-He…he wanted you to have this."

Faith felt drained as she looked blankly at Buffy as she held out a small round shaped device in her hand.

"What is it?" Faith asked feeling dead inside as she looked blankly at the device.

"It's a holo-locket… It records audio and video." Cassie said catching everyone by surprise.

Faith didn't know what to think of this device and a part of her didn't want anything to do with it, but Paul had wanted her to have it. She didn't look at Buffy as she slowly took the item out of her hand. She looked at locket and it felt like it was burning her hand. She suddenly started to have a hard time trying to breathe as the pain started to take over. She didn't say a word as she rushed for the bridge elevator and exited the bridge, leaving a quiet and stunned room behind her.

Giles spoke up after a moment breaking the silence and tension that hung over the bridge, "Maybe we should go after her?"

Buffy was going to reply, but Xander answered first, "No… She needs…she wants to be alone."

Buffy nodded in agreement with Xander's response. She turned to Xander and Cassie standing beside him. She had one last final message to deliver.

Cassie was a little surprised when Buffy moved towards her. She was still trying to deal with what had happened. She was kicking herself for not seeing what the Captain had planned to do. She may have been only a lowly third Lieutenant with minimal combat experience, but she was still a pilot and she should have been out there with the Captain watching his six.

_Maybe things could've been different if I was out there,_ she thought as Buffy stood in front of her. She realized that the Captain planned it this way as he knew that she and the few other pilots would have gone with him — with no hesitation. She realized that the Captain didn't want to ask or make anyone fly a mission where there was no coming back. She found herself wondering if she could make the same choice if she had to.

"The Captain wanted you to have this…" Buffy said as she held out her hand.

Cassie was surprised that the Captain had thought of her and she looked down at the outstretched hand and she saw the shoulder patch that was the Grim Reaper's squadron emblem. Her heart started pounding harder as Buffy spoke again.

"He said that as long as someone wore the squadron's colors…then they all still live on…"

Cassie didn't think as her hand shakily reached out and took the squadron shoulder patch. She understood the meaning behind the Captain's actions. Other wars in human history had allowed for memorials to be built afterwards to allow those that had fallen to be remembered, the Robotech Wars hadn't allowed for those extravagances unless you counted the Earth as one big graveyard for all those that had died during the Rain of Death. Sometimes it was the smallest of things that connected the present with the past and allowed those that had served and sacrificed to have some comfort that there would be some continuity and that they wouldn't be forgotten. For her and Captain Colerio that meant the squadron that they belonged to was usually the only thing that represented that they had ever existed. It was as if the squadron was a living being and that the individuals made up the whole with that flimsy piece of fabric symbolizing the link to all those that had belonged to her. He was the last of the Grim Reapers in this universe and he knew that when he died the squadron would be considered "dead" unless there was someone to take up and continue on.

Cassie didn't hesitate as she removed her old squadron patch from her shoulder and put the Captain's patch in its place as everyone on the bridge watched. Chief Larson was the first to speak.

"What are your orders…ma'am!" she said crisply and respectfully, coming to attention.

Cassie took a deep breath as she tried to think of what was needed, "We'll need to finish our pilot training and with the pilots we've recovered we should be able to field a full squadron…maybe even two. We'll need to check out all the fighters we've recovered and bring more up to full readiness. We'll also need the rest of those drones available too."

"Yes, ma'am." Rachel said with a nod.

Cassie turned to Aaron, "What are your orders for the squadron, sir?"

Aaron took a moment as he still dealt with the realization that he was Captain — for better or for worse. There was a brief moment of panic as he came to grips with the situation and he thought about handing command over to Lt.-Commander Wright once their forces regrouped, but he was First Officer of the Arcadia and the next in the chain of command. He steeled himself as he thought of what Commodore Lau and Captain Coleiro would do. He made a silent vow to not disappoint either one of them and keep the crew safe.

"We'll rendezvous with the Dolphin's group and take stock of our situation. I guess the next step is to establish formal communications with the planet, since there's no hiding us now. Bring us down to yellow alert. We still have interference on our sensors, so keep the point-defense weapons on-line and ready. You and the Chief get those recruits back in the simulators and get us some fighter cover."

Cassie nodded to Aaron and looked at Chief Larson getting a nod as well, "Aye Aye, sir." Cassie said coming to attention giving him a salute.

She and Chief Larson turned to head off the bridge, Xander had witnessed what had happened and followed them. He caught up to the two women at the bridge deck elevators.

"Cassie! Wait up!"

Cassie took a deep breath and looked at Xander. She could see the look of worry and concern on his face, but her mind couldn't deal with it right now. She was dealing with her emotions, guilt and new responsibilities.

"What is it Xander?" she said tiredly and without much emotion.

Cassie's tone caught him off-guard and at first he wasn't sure how to respond. He loved Cassie and wanted to help her. He wasn't sure how to approach the situation, but he thought he would give it a try.

"I…I just wanted to say how sorry I am about the Captain."

Cassie looked at him blankly, "I don't know who you're talking about." she said in a toneless matter of fact way.

Xander looked at Cassie in surprise and shock as he wasn't sure that he'd heard her right.

"Uh…" he started to say.

Cassie ignored him and looked at Chief Larson, "Chief I'll meet you down in the hanger. I have to stop by my cabin first."

Xander was confused and at a loss to understand Cassie's nonchalant behavior as he looked at her and saw the Chief nod. Cassie got on to the elevator as it opened and just looked at him as the door closed leaving him standing there beside the Chief.

He was dumbfounded at Cassie's apparent lack of emotion, "What the hell?" he said shaking his head trying to understand what he witnessed. He was caught by surprise when Chief Larson spoke up.

"Don't be angry at her…"

Xander looked at the Chief, "How can she be like that…it's like she doesn't—"

"Even care…" Larson said finishing his question.

"Yeah…what's with that?"

Larson sighed, "There's nothing wrong with her, Xander. The life of a fighter pilot is dangerous and can be very short…ending quite violently. Fighter pilots have the reputation of always being calm and cool in dangerous situations. They can't let death hang over them…they can't show the fear. I've seen this before…pilots deal with the loss by denying that the person existed."

"But…"

Larson shook her head sadly, "Trust me Xander, Lieutenant Evans is feeling the loss."

"How can you tell? She looked so…normal." Xander asked still trying to understand what was happening.

"She's now responsible for the squadron…not only for the recruits, but also keeping the squadron's legacy alive. That's a huge weight on her shoulders. She's going to her quarters to try and compose herself as she was having a hard time keeping it together." Larson said somberly.

"So what do I do?" he asked feeling helpless.

Larson was still trying to deal with the shock and loss of what had happened. Like Cassie, she would deal with her own grief in her own way later, but right now this young confused looking man in front of her needed some guidance. A sad smile came to her face, "Go to her…be there for her. She's going to need you."


	37. It didn't mean anything…

**Author's Notes: Remember to see the poll on my profile page. Looking for feedback and to see how much interest there is in me writing a sequel to this story.**

**Also Language and Sexual content warning...**

**CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN:**

**It didn't mean anything…**

"_…Why didn't I tell Paul I loved him sooner? I have no idea why. Looking back, I guess I started falling in love with him when he greeted me, in his cabin, wearing nothing but a towel and treated me like a person rather a sex toy…no wait! It was before that, when we fought in the gym. I thought my feelings were just a combination of lust and horniness. I had no idea what a 'normal' relationship was like and in some ways finding what he meant to me was like learning to walk. We did a lot of stumbling and falling as we both made mistakes and made questionable choices and decisions…_"

— Faith Lehane

**oOoOo**

Faith walked through the ship's corridors in a daze. She had no idea or awareness of where she was going as her mind and body were engulfed in a flood of thoughts and emotions. Her feet moved her as if they had a mind of their own as she fought to control her emotions that tore through. She was faintly aware that her hand still clenched the holo-locket that Buffy had given her. She could feel the device digging into her hand from clenching it so tight. The pain from that gave her mind a distraction to focus on rather than the pain she was feeling inside her.

She didn't know what to do, think or say. She was at a complete loss. She could feel anger building up inside her as she hated what she was feeling.

_I never asked him to care for me… I didn't ask him to go out there and do that_, she thought furiously.

The images of Paul's battloid dancing across space fighting desperately replayed in her thoughts. She was used to being outnumbered in a fight because after all she was a Slayer, but to see Paul and the pitiful few drones he took with him standing against those odds as the images of the waves of alien fighters being released by their mother ships came back. She tried to not think of how he must have felt in those final moments as his last words taunted her. The images forced Faith to stop walking as she put her hands to her eyes almost if trying to physically push them out.

_It was just sex between us…it didn't mean anything,_ she thought almost like a mantra trying to get herself to actually believe that when her heart and soul knew differently. She remembered how she liked waking up in bed next to him. He hadn't pressured or pushed her, he hadn't had any hidden agendas or treated her like some of the other guys she'd been with before. In some ways he'd been almost as reluctant to get involved as she was. She'd wanted him ever since their fight in the gym. She'd thought it was only to satisfy her own urges, but it had gotten out of control on her. She should've listened to the small voice after the first time they had sex and gotten up and left like she'd done with all the others before him. Her motto had been "_Ride 'em hard and fast, then walk away…_" as that tended to minimize any complications or hurt feelings — at least on her part. She hadn't needed anyone for years, but with Paul she'd broken her own rule and had made it complicated. Now she was paying the price for breaking her own rule. She didn't know who she hated more at this moment…Buffy, the Invid, Paul or herself.

She pulled her hands away from her eyes and finally became aware of where she was. She was standing outside Paul's cabin. She stood there in shock looking at the door. He'd given her the access code to the cabin, so she could go in anytime she wanted to rather than breaking in. But she stood there frozen as the emotions and feelings continued to tear through her. She didn't want to go in there as she knew that she was barely keeping a lid on how she was feeling and she knew that if she went in there she would lose it and she swore that she would never give a guy that much control over her again. Her anger towards herself grew as she felt foolish and weak feeling this way about some guy. She looked at the holo-locket in her hand and for a moment she thought about throwing it away as it was only a reminder of him and her foolish weak feelings.

_I'm the Slayer damn it! I'm not some foolish girl gushing and falling for guys…it's the other way around!_ she thought as she felt a surge of anger.

Clenching the locket tighter, almost as if she wanted to crush it, she tried to decide what to do. After a long moment she relaxed her grip and shoved the locket into her back pocket, she couldn't bring herself to throw it away. She didn't care that it made an unsightly bulge in her tight jeans. She just didn't want to hold it anymore.

She inhaled and exhaled deeply trying to get control of herself as she stood there looking at the cabin door. She felt the pain and anguish stabbing at her trying to swamp her anger. She wanted the nightmare she was living to stop and go away. She heard a little voice inside her, trying to convince her that he meant nothing — was nothing to her — and that she didn't need him. The little voice said she needed to do something to prove that Paul was nothing more than two sweaty bodies bumping in the night. Faith finally made up her mind on what she was going to do. She quickly turned and left Paul's cabin in her wake striding purposely towards her objective while trying to deny the pain and emptiness she was feeling.

**oOoOo**

Cassie leaned against the bulkhead, taking a deep breath, as the door to her cabin closed behind her. After a long moment, she finally moved further into her cabin and found herself looking at herself in the full-length mirror. Her eyes were drawn to the squadron shoulder patch, staring at it losing track of time as thoughts flowed and jumbled through her head.

_I can't… I can't do this! I don't know what I'm doing! How can I run, let alone rebuild a squadron!_

She could feel the pressure and responsibility weighing on her. She'd known since joining the REF and becoming an officer that she would eventually have to make the hard decisions, but not right now and not this way. She didn't know if she could do the job and that caused another feeling to grow inside her — the fear of failure and letting down the Captain.

_Who the hell am I to be thinking I can fill the Captain's shoes! He was in the same league as Max Sterling, Admiral Hunter and Roy Fokker and I'm still only a rookie with only one combat mission under my belt. _

Cassie lost track of time as she tried to deal with her thoughts, fighting to regain some composure as she felt the panic pulling at her. She felt like she was on the edge of a cliff about to fall off and keep on falling and be lost forever. She was pulled back into the moment when she heard the cabin door chime. She couldn't think of who it could be as she tried to deal with her feelings.

After a long moment the door opened quietly and Cassie realized who it was. As she saw Xander come into the room, she was hit by a wave of guilt over how she'd responded and treated him. She knew that she'd acted cool and aloof to him when he tried to console her and she'd hated herself for treating him like that, but she was also a fighter pilot and an officer in the REF and there were certain expectations and requirements in how you did things — no matter how crappy they must seem.

Cassie wasn't sure what she was going to say, but Xander spoke first, "Cassie… I just want you to know that I'm here for you. If you want to talk or just hang out… I'm here and there's no judgement on my part."

Xander paused as he wasn't sure if he should say what else he was feeling and was on his mind, but he knew that he needed to say it, "…I just want to say that I love you!"

Cassie looked at him with a stunned look plastered on her face as she heard his declaration. She knew that he had feelings for her and she felt the same way, they hadn't really discussed what they felt or where they were going with this. It took her a long moment, still staring at him, as his words sank in. It was at that moment as if a floodgate of feelings opened up. She knew what she wanted.

Xander stood there looking at Cassie after he had put his heart out there in the open. He knew that she cared for him, but he was unsure of where they were going with whatever this was that they were doing. He knew that she was in a dangerous profession, but then he'd grown up on the Hellmouth and survived numerous almost-apocalypses. He was trying to prepare himself for disappointment and was half-preparing a couple of self-depreciating putdowns to deal with it. What he hadn't expected was Cassie leaping at him, grabbing him and pushing him up against the cabin wall. He was still trying to figure out what was happening as she wrapped her hands around his head pulling him closer to her. His one good eye arched wildly as she planted her mouth furiously on his mouth kissing him hard. He was still trying to regain his sense of focus and equilibrium as her mouth pushed hard against his, feeling her tongue searching for his. As any normal guy would do in this type of situation, he stopped thinking about what was happening and reacted meeting her hunger with his own intense desire.

They both kissed for what seemed like an eternity, Cassie finally pulled away giving Xander a hard look, meeting his eye. "I want you!" she said with an urgent tone in a low husky voice.

Xander found himself gulping hard. He was no novice to sex as Anya and him had some pretty close and wild encounters, but this was different from those moments. There was an intensity in this moment that he found hard to describe. He saw a look of hunger and wanting in her eyes as he felt and heard his heart pounding rapidly. As Cassie pressed her body hard against his, he could feel the blood moving to his lower body in response.

"Are you sure?" Xander found himself asking in a quiet hesitant sounding voice. He felt as the older and supposedly more "mature" and experienced in relationships, that he had to be sure this is what Cassie wanted — despite what his little head was doing and wanted right now

"Yes…" Cassie said almost panting as she felt Xander's growing hardness press against her.

They hungrily kissed again, this time a small moan escaping Cassie's mouth as Xander moved one of his hands to cup her ass pulling her even closer while he ran his other hand through her hair. After a moment he started kissing her neck slowly causing more small moans to escape from her. They quickly tore at each other's clothes and in moments they were both in her bed naked in a tight embrace hungrily kissing each other with each other's hands touching and running up and down the others body exploring and enjoying the sensation.

**oOoOo**

Robin had kept himself occupied during his stay on the Arcadia. He'd taken advantage of the offers of tours and explored the ship — usually with Giles and Andrew. When not wandering the decks, he used the gymnasium to workout and filling the other time by reviewing the history records from the Arcadia's databases.

He found it fascinating reading to see how events differed and played out in an alternate universe. He'd been mesmerized and horrified as he read the accounts of the Robotech Wars and how Earth had been devastated and her population almost annihilated. Reading and seeing video of the battles gave him a different perspective and appreciation of his universe. He'd grown up thinking that his Earth constantly lived on the edge of extinction not only from themselves, but from the vampires and demons that roamed the Earth. It was sobering to view the video records showing Zentraedi ships laying waste to the surface of the planet. The size of the fleets involved and the distances across the galaxy was staggering and almost hard to believe.

He'd been caught off-guard and surprised when he'd heard the battle alert through the ship's PA system. For all his years of hunting and fighting vampires and demons, he suddenly found himself helpless, insignificant and basically feeling useless as he heard the reports being relayed about the Invid fleet arriving here. A shiver of fear had run through his body as he had an idea of what the Invid was capable of doing from reviewing the battle records. He'd found himself staying in his quarters during the battle as he didn't want to get in the way and realized that there was very little he could do to help or make a difference in the battle. He'd felt a huge sense of relief as the ship changed its alert status, but other than seeing the darkness of space briefly light up like the sun and a brief report notifying that all Invid ships had been destroyed, he had no real idea what had happened. He found himself debating whether to track down Giles to find out what had happened, when the door chime sounded catching him by surprise.

Robin was a little puzzled and wondering who was at his cabin door. The last person he expected to see at his door was Faith and the last thing he expected was her pushing him back into his cabin up against the wall, pressing her body up against his, grabbing his head and start kissing him in an almost frenzy-like state.

A part of Robin was starting to respond to her advances, but his mind was a whirlwind of confused thoughts and he could feel that something was wrong as he could see that Faith's eyes were red and the look on her face — rather than one of lust looked to be of someone in pain. He managed to disengage from her kiss and push her back enough to give himself some space to breathe and look at her.

"Faith, what's the matter?"

Faith moved again closer to him and pressed her body again against his, looking up into his face, "I want you."

Robin blinked in surprise as he heard her words as he wasn't sure he'd heard her right, "You want me? You want to have sex with me…right now?" he asked in a confused voice as he felt the heat from her body as it pressed against his.

"Yes…I want you to take me." she said in a husky voice as her right hand moved down Robin's chest and torso and moved toward his lower body.

"Whoa! Timeout here!" Robin said in an urgent confused-filled voice as he managed to push Faith back enough to extricate himself from against the wall, moving quickly into the more open space of his cabin. He'd felt his body start to respond, but there was something wrong with Faith and the situation. He knew — as did everybody on the ship — that she and Captain Coleiro were an item. He wanted to know what had caused this change in her behavior before anything went further. He'd heard the rumors about the Captain and Buffy, which for some reason hadn't surprised him, but the last thing he wanted was to be caught in the middle of a lovers quarrel — especially with one of the parties involved being a Slayer.

"What's wrong?" Robin asked again as he took a deep breath to try and relax his body.

"Nuthing… I wanted a repeat session with you."

Robin heard the words, but the look on her face indicated that something was seriously wrong.

"Did the Captain do something to you? Did he hurt you?" he asked filled with concern as he considered her to be somewhat more "vulnerable" as compared to Buffy.

"Yeah…I mean no…he didn't do anything." Faith said shaking her head vigorously with her voice starting to crack.

"If he hurt you…you can tell me. He shouldn't be allowed to abuse you." Robin said using his Principal voice as he was now concerned that the Captain had done something to her.

"N-No… N-No…it's not anything like that. I want to—" she said as her voice cracked, continuing to shake her head.

"Faith you don't have to be scared…you can—"

"HE'S DEAD!" she yelled.

Robin was stunned speechless as he looked at her face and it all started to make sense as he saw the pain there, "How?"

"What does it matter…he's dead." she said in a voice that sounded drained of emotion.

"It does matter…tell me what happened." he asked in a soft voice.

"He went out and did a suicide run against those damned Invid… He had some bombs planted on some of those drones… He drew them in close and set them off…taking them and him out." Faith said as she started breathing heavily as her mind started replaying everything again. She could feel the pain start to well up, threatening to overwhelm her.

"…And you wanted to come down here and have sex with me?" Robin said with a confused look on his face.

"P-Paul…the Captain… We were just messing around…we both knew that we wouldn't last. We were just in it for the sex…it didn't mean anything."

"Bullshit!"

"What's your problem? I came here to have sex. What…you're too good now to get between the sheets with me?!" Faith replied angrily.

"You came here to prove to yourself that you don't care…that you didn't actually love him."

"Screw you!"

Robin ignored her outburst as he now understood why she was here and her mindset, "You think it would be so easy to come down here and screw your brains out and not care…"

"Shut up!"

"…prove to yourself that no man is worth your time or investing your feelings in..."

"Shut up!"

"You can try and lie to me Faith, but I see it in your face. You lov— "

"SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Robin instinctively backed up as he saw the Slayer vent her anger and pain.

"If he loved me so fucking much…t-then why the hell did he go and get himself killed! He could have found another way…he…he…didn't have to leave me." Faith said as her voice started to break and she could feel her what was left of her self-control start to collapse as she tried to hold back the flood of pain and grief.

"I don't know why Faith, but I'm sure he had his reasons. He didn't leave you a note or something?"

Faith's head shot up and she was once again aware of the item in her back pocket. She turned and left the cabin, leaving a confused and puzzled Robin in her wake.

**oOoOo**

It didn't take Faith long to get back to Paul's cabin. She found herself almost afraid to go inside and she had to dig down deep to find the strength to enter. She was immediately hit with familiar sights and smells of the room. They hit her harder than any punch as she found her strength and courage giving way. She pulled the holo-locket from her back pocket as she sat on the edge of the bed as she couldn't trust herself to stand anymore. She studied the object for what felt like an eternity to her. It took her a moment to figure out how to activate it and she jumped slightly as a small image of Paul appeared standing on the center of the locket. There was a long pause and then she heard his voice.

_"Faith… I'm sorry. I didn't want to do it this way…it comes off as too contrived and reeks of those sappy emotions which I know you don't like…"_

She couldn't help herself, but she smiled when she heard that. Paul's holographic image continued.

_"…If you're viewing this then it means that I'm probably dead… I know you're probably asking yourself why and trying to understand why I did it… If you were in my place, what would you do? I had to do this as I couldn't be responsible for sending anyone else against impossible odds to stop the Invid and I wasn't willing to risk the ship…the crew…you."_

She could feel her tears come freely now — running down her face. She found it hard to see his image through her tear-filled eyes.

_"I did what I did because I had a duty and responsibility…you're a Slayer, so I know you understand better than most…_ _I know I asked you where we were going with this…and you never did give me an answer. I know you didn't want me to use that word, but I do feel that way for you… It seemed that those I loved the most always died and I was left alone to continue on and so I buried myself and my feelings. I didn't want to love again as I didn't want to feel that pain again. Then so much time passed by that I didn't think I could feel that way ever again about anyone. I'm sorry for leaving you, because I know the pain that I will have caused you… Please live your life and be happy…you can find happiness…and love. Take care of yourself…I…I… Bye."_

Faith sat there stunned as the message ended. The grief slammed into her as the tears streamed down her face as she started sobbing. It felt as if her heart was going to explode as the grief finally overwhelmed her. She fell backward on to the bed, holding on tightly to the holo-locket, as she curled up into a ball still crying, her body racked with heaving sobs as she laid there.

She lost track of time as she continued crying, suddenly a voice startled her.

"Well this is quite the scene… My little firecracker went and fell in love and now he's gone and died." the familiar voice said in a sneering sarcastic tone.

Faith raised her head slowly, wiping the tears from her eyes, and was greeted by the sight of Richard Wilkins standing across the room looking at her with a condescending smirk on his face. She knew who it really was.

"Screw off!" she said angrily as she wasn't in the mood to be The First Evil's mental piñata at this time.

"Wow…I must say that I'm really impressed. I've never been in space before…never really had the chance, but you know what they say…travel broadens the mind."

Faith tried to ignore The First as it continued with its verbal assault.

"Oh…is my firecracker upset that her hero is dead. I know what you need…you need a friend to comfort you during your mourning…"

Faith watched as the form of Richard Wilkins shifted and suddenly Buffy was standing in the room giving her a cold smile.

"See I can be a good friend… Oh wait…if I was such a good friend why did I try and screw him…right here in this very room. Maybe if I couldn't have him, then maybe I didn't want you to have him? Hey! Maybe that's why I let him go out there to die… Oops." the image of Buffy said holding her hand to her mouth as she made an embarrassed smile.

Faith closed her eyes to try and shut out The First, she could feel her tears start to build up again.

"I guess I wasn't really a true friend…maybe I was jealous that you had found someone alive to love while my lover is cold and dead… Speaking of dead. I wonder…"

Buffy's form and voice changed.

"…what Angel would think of all this. All that time he spent trying to save you…show you that you were worth saving…that you were worth redeeming."

Faith tried to shut out the image of Angel with a crooked smile on his face — it reminded her too much of Angelus.

"Hmmm…maybe it's a good thing that the good Captain died. I wonder what he would have thought of you trying to throw yourself at Robin. What you must think of yourself? What was left of him probably wasn't even cold yet and you're were down there wanting to spread your legs for another man…"

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"

The image of Angel kept smiling and Faith could feel the tears running down her face.

"Awww…the brave strong Slayer. You finally find a man that you can trust and be comfortable with…not like all those other men that just wanted you for your body, but let's be honest…you never gave most of them a chance to prove otherwise… You found a kindred spirit in the Captain…you want to know what my theory is. I think he went on that suicide mission, because he couldn't stand the thought of spending another moment with you…"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

"…I mean what could you really offer him? Your body? You would eventually age and your looks would wither away. Your intellect? Let's get serious... Let's face it…your relationship hit its pinnacle already. There…there...don't cry. You got more orgasms out of this guy than any other guy you've spread your legs for…so you have at least that.

Faith pressed her hands against her ears trying to shut out the words. She sat there shaking her head, muttering to herself. She finally gave in and dropped her hands from her ears, looking up at The First with her bloodshot and tear-filled eyes. She met evil's gaze and didn't blink. She was drained emotionally and she could feel herself starting to founder.

"I want to see him…" she said in quiet voice.

The image of Angel leaned in closer, "Come again…I missed that."

"I want you to turn into Paul." she said with a slightly harder tone.

The image of Angel suddenly got a confused look on his face, "Why would you want that? I would think that would be the last thing you would want."

"I want to see his face, so I can tell him that I love him… You want to torture me…you want to rip my soul out? I'm already living in hell…I watched the man I love die…he died to protect me...his ship…his crew…the planet. I know it won't be him, but I can live with that illusion…it's all I got left."

The First stared down at Faith for a long moment and she refused to break her gaze. He could see her determination finding renewed strength.

"No…I don't think so." The image of Angel said with a smirk.

Faith got a flash of anger which surprised her, "Why not? I would think you would want to use Paul's image to torture me some more."

"Because you want me to." The First replied in almost a huffed tone.

Faith would never be mistaken for a rocket scientist, but her lack of education didn't make her stupid. It was in that moment as she stared down The First and heard its tone that a little voice went off inside her head and a thought flashed. Before she realized it her mouth was speaking.

"You won't because you can't…"

"What're you going on about?" The First said in a dismissive tone as it turned itself away from Faith.

As the thought grew inside her mind, she worked through the whole situation, "You can only appear as those that have died… You can't appear as Paul— MY GOD!"

Her eyes widened in shock at the realization and implications. She didn't hesitate as she got up, rushing out the cabin, in a flash, passing through the image of Angel without giving it any thought — her thoughts were on something more important as hope flared inside her.

The First yelled and taunted her as she left the being behind. She ignored its barbs as she hurried as she realized that time was of the essence.

**oOoOo**

Cassie and Xander were lying together on their sides looking at each other. He was running his hand lightly down her arm. She smiled sadly at him.

"You okay? I'm sorry if I did something wrong." he said anxiously.

"No…no it's nothing you did. I'm glad you're here…I'm glad we're like this." Cassie said shaking her head vigorously to allay any fears or misconceptions on his part as she'd really enjoyed the sex.

"Then what's wrong?"

"I'm scared…"

Xander was a little surprised and taken aback by her honesty, "What're you scared about?"

"I'm scared of failing… I scared of letting down the Captain…I'm scared of losing you." Cassie said as a tear came to her eye and rolled down her cheek.

Xander reached out gently and wiped the tear away with his hand, "It's okay to be scared…I know you'll do everything you need to do and more…just remember that I love you."

At that Cassie's smile got a little bigger, "I love you too." she said softly as she leaned in and kissed him gently on the lips.

Xander felt his body respond and he wrapped his arms around Cassie and pulled her closer with their kisses increasing in intensity. He was thinking what a perfect moment this was, when it was suddenly interrupted as the door literally burst open as Faith came rushing in.

Cassie and Xander were both startled by Faith's sudden appearance as they both sat up in bed. For a moment the bed sheet slid down leaving Cassie a little more exposed than Xander.

"What the hell Faith?!" Xander said in an excited and disappointed voice as he pulled the sheet back up to cover both Cassie and him.

Faith acted like she hadn't noticed that Cassie and Xander were both naked and what they were doing. She moved across the room excitedly, picking up Cassie's uniform off the floor and tossing it to her.

"Get dressed…we need to get moving!" she said with an excited urgent tone in her voice.

"Faith…you can't just come barging in to people's rooms…. We were—" Xander said starting to get a little angry at the interruption.

"I know what you guys were doing and all I can say it's about time you two got serious… Cassie has a hot body, so you're a lucky guy there Xander. Plus I've seen what you're packing, so Cassie's a lucky girl…"

Xander turned beet red at the mention of his past encounter with Faith. Cassie missed the comment, as she'd already gotten out bed and started getting dressed. She was more concerned about why Faith had broken into her room and was acting the way she was.

"What's the problem?" Cassie asked as her tone and her mindset switched over.

"We have to turn around and go back and look for him!" Faith said excitedly as she paced back and forth across the room like a caged tiger waiting for Cassie to finish getting dressed.

"Look for who?" Cassie asked confusedly.

"For Paul…for the Captain!"

Cassie froze and looked at Faith like she'd taken leave of her sanity, "Search for Captain Coleiro? What're you talking about?"

"He's not dead…! He's out there and we have to find him!" Faith said excitedly.


	38. A path unveiled…

**Author's Notes: Remember to see the poll on my profile page. Looking for feedback and to see how much interest there is in me writing a sequel to this story.**

**CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT:**

**A path unveiled…**

"_…When I am asked of my thoughts and feelings towards Paul Coleiro, they reflect back on the years that I have known this particular human. I have been proud to have known and served with him through the many difficult years and trials we had to face. Only a few beings know of the difficult choices and personal sacrifices that he had to make for the greater good of all the species that make up the Alliance. What most are eager to ask about is our first meeting together aboard the Arcadia. This question shows their lack of understanding and knowledge about the Flower of Life and the power of the Shapings. This lack of understanding prevents them from realizing the possibility that "we" may have communicated with each other much earlier than that first shipboard meeting. It was that he just wasn't aware of it…_"

— Tashe of the Invid

**oOoOo**

Paul was standing on the observation deck of the SDF-1. It was the same exact spot he'd stood when he was a child and watched the Zentreadi fire on the Earth. He could see ships everywhere, floating in space…waiting. Suddenly the scene changed and he was in the ruins of a city…fighting raging everywhere. It took him a moment to realize he was in New Macross…on that fateful day. He saw old style Veritechs tear across the sky engaging Khyron's forces. He stood there watching trying to see if he could see his father's fighter…

_If I can find a fighter…I can save him!_

Something made Paul turn and he saw a woman running carrying a small child. His heart froze as he recognized who they were. He wanted to scream a warning for his mother to stop and turn around, but he couldn't speak. He closed his eyes as he didn't want to see his mother and sister die again. He heard a sound and he was suddenly on _that_ Invid-occupied planet. He could see the wreckage of Sonia's Alpha…twisted and burning. He started running towards it, but it seemed that no matter how hard he ran he couldn't get closer.

He gave up in despair, dropping to the ground on his knees. He pounded the ground with his fists as he screamed, wanting the nightmare to end. He could feel all the rage and hate he'd carried his whole life well up and threaten to consume him. He suddenly saw that he had a choice…to let the hate and pain consume him or choose a different path.

_"No… I want something more!"_ he said in a loud voice as he clenched his fists.

He suddenly had a vision of a planet. It wasn't earth, but he thought he'd recognized it. The vision grew more intense and he saw Faith's face — smiling at him — mix with the vision of the planet. He felt a sense of peace and joy that he couldn't describe, seeing her at this time…in this place. Suddenly a huge column of pure blinding energy rose from the planet climbing higher and higher into space. At its apex, it suddenly transformed, becoming a huge bird…a phoenix of pure energy, extending its wings and letting out a cry that he felt in his bones. Tears flowed from his eyes and his soul echoed with the sight of this most wondrous and beautiful vision as the phoenix continued to soar higher and deeper into space. He felt his soul calling out to the phoenix to come back and take him with her. A sudden realization hit him

_I'm dead…I've died_, he thought as he started to recall the last moments before the bombs went off.

_"No, my child…you are not dead."_ a woman's gentle voice spoke startling him.

Paul slowly stood up, looking around for the person that was speaking to him, but the voice seemed to be coming from all around him. The strange thing was that he wasn't afraid of the voice, it felt calm and soothing, yet it was tinged with an ageless sadness.

_"If I'm not dead, then where am I?"_

_"You are in the realm between the light and shadow…it is here that I can reach out and touch your mind. I have seen your thoughts…I have seen your life."_

Paul's eyes went wide, _"W-Who are you? What do you want?"_

_"I am the Regess of the Invid…and I need your help. We…the Invid need your help…"_

Paul stumbled at hearing that he was talking to the Regess. He could feel his hate and anger start to return. The Regess's voice spoke out as she could feel his emotions as well.

_"I..we are not the Invid from your universe. I have seen what the Invid in the other universe have done, but I have seen what caused their hate and the path of destruction they chose. I have also seen what they seek to achieve, it is the one we seek to achieve as well, but we need your help."_

Paul was stunned and confused as the vision of the phoenix rising from the planet returned. The beauty and wonder of it caused him to push the hate and prejudice away as he tried to keep an open mind, _"How is this even possible?! How can you even be talking to me?! How am I still alive…if this is even real!?"_ he said excitedly as he tried to grasp what he was dealing with.

_"You have been touched by the Flower of Life…and because now you hover between life and death. Your mind and thoughts are able to hear me. The Shapings and the powers have chosen you."_

_"C-Chosen me? Chosen me for what? You said you needed my help. Help for what?"_

_"To save us…"_

**oOoOo**

Tashe was struggling to keep her ship alive. The carrier had been trailing the rest of the formation as they engaged the human fighters. She'd seen how few fighters there were engaging her fellow Invid that she'd held off deploying her fighters, she would save them until they could close with the larger human cruiser. She had no time to show surprise or shock as the battle area suddenly erupted in huge blinding explosions. It took her a split second to realize that the humans had lead them into a trap…there was a moment of doubt as she didn't think that the humans would sacrifice their own people to draw them in — that would be something that the Invid would do, not humans.

The blast wave hit her ship hard, tossing it like a toy. Controls exploded and alarms went off and the hull was battered, it was only a minor miracle that the hull wasn't breached. Her engines were off-line, but at least she still had power.

As she struggled with directing her crew to make what repairs they could and keeping her mecha pilots calm, she found her thoughts wandering. She felt despair at the thought of failing her Regess and brethren if she died here. The thoughts continued to consume her when she suddenly shot up as if she'd been shocked. She had no idea what was happening to her, but an image of a human exploded into her mind. She felt fear and confusion as she tried to comprehend what was happening to her and why, before she could grasp what was happening, she heard the voice of the Regess trying to break through whatever was blocking her. She could feel the importance of what was trying to be relayed to her by how her Queen strained to break through to her. Tashe strained herself once again to assist and suddenly two words broke through the wall, which caused her eyes to go wide in shock.

_Save him…_

**oOoOo**

Paul struggled in shock and confusion with what the Regess had told him, _"S-Save you…Why? How?"_

_"By saving us from the Children of the Shadows, you will allow us to achieve our destiny…and save yourselves from them…"_

_"Shadows? Who are these Shadows?" _

_"You have faced them in your own universe…"_

_"You're Invid…you could fight them yourself."_

_"We may be like the Invid from your universe, but we differ from them as our destinies took a different path. The one called Zor came to our planet and I revealed the secrets of the flower, but he never returned with the ones you call the Robotech Masters and Zentreadi to take it… The Shadows came as they had before…this time they occupied our planet…they have found a way to prevent me from communicating to my children. I can hear their cries, but I cannot talk to them."_

Paul could hear a mother's pain and anguish in her voice as she spoke, _"What can I do?"_

_"You have what the Shadows fear…you have knowledge of the Flower and Protoculture and what it can do…the power it contains."_

_"You want me to lead a war?! One ship against…?! T-That's crazy!"_ Paul said as the shock of it all sank in. He suddenly felt dizzy as his legs went weak. He had a hard time standing, _"What's wrong with me?"_ he mumbled.

_"You are leaving this realm and returning to your world…I will not be able to talk to you anymore. Know this…even if you choose to not follow the path, they will find you…the Awareness will find you, but you are not alone…there are others out there that will help you…" _

He wanted to ask more questions, but everything went blurry. He felt overwhelming pain through his body as everything went black around him…

Paul struggled to open his eyes, but his body screamed in pain. He managed to open one eye, but pain stabbed in his left eye, he felt a warm wetness across his face. He tried to focus his one good eye and slowly became aware that his visor was shattered and the cockpit was filled with flashing warning lights and alarms going off. Stabbing pain hit him hard and his vision went gray as he tried to slowly move his head. He paused and his vision returned, but the stabbing pain remained. He managed to glimpse and saw a dark crimson color staining his flight suit and spattering his cockpit.

He was disoriented as flashes of what felt like a dream went through his head as his mind tried to deal with the pain and understand what had happened to him. Fragments came back to him.

_Where am I? The last thing I remember I was trying to say something to Faith and then there was a huge bright light…_

He lost track of time as a part of his brain told him that he was badly hurt, drifting in space in the remains of his fighter. He tried to concentrate and focus to stay conscious, but he could feel the darkness pulling at him as pain wracked his body. He had no idea what to do as his mind became a jumble of confused thoughts. Just as his vision began to darken, he made out the huge shape of an Invid Carrier slowly making an approach to come up underneath him. He should have been afraid or resigned to his fate, but he wasn't. He managed to command his body to move and his arm weakly obeyed as he dug down deep from his last reserves. He strained himself as his hand stabbed out for his communication console on his display panel. It took several weak tries, but he managed to activate his emergency locator beacon. Finally seeing the beacon light flashing, Paul let out a deep sigh and let the darkness take him.

**oOoOo**

"You want me to turn around and go back?!" Aaron said in a surprised and incredulous voice as he looked at Faith, Xander and Lieutenant Evans arrayed in front of him at his newly inherited command station.

Faith gave him a defiant look, "Yes…we need to go back and find Paul! He's still alive!"

Aaron studied Faith for moment, "We're scheduled to meet up with the Dolphin and her group. We can't turn around now. I would like to believe that the Captain is still alive, but…"

Faith closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she counted to ten as she fought to keep her composure. She opened her eyes and with great control of her emotions spoke, "He's alive…I know he's alive and every second we spend arguing here puts him in danger."

Aaron wanted to believe, but he had a greater responsibility, "Okay let's say you're right…how do you know he's alive?"

"He didn't appear to me…he couldn't become him." Faith replied rapidly as she could feel herself losing control once again.

"Who? What are you talking about?" Aaron asked looking and feeling confused.

Faith took a deep breath and tried to get her thoughts back under control, "The First…it came to taunt me and rub my face in my pain. I asked it to appear as Paul…" everyone's eyes went wide at this revelation, "…it couldn't."

Aaron looked at her skeptically, "So what? What does that mean?"

Xander jumped in as he now understood Faith's logic, "Don't you see…The First can only appear of those that have died. It does it so it can play twister with your mind and emotions. If it couldn't appear as the Captain…"

Aaron's eyes went wide at the realization of what he was being told and he didn't hesitate, "Helm! Bring us about! Begin a sensor scan of the battle area…I want all eyes and ears on that area! Alert the hanger bay…I want a rescue shuttle on standby to launch as soon as we find anything!"

The bridge crew jumped to carry out the commands with an excited urgency. Faith let out a deep sigh of relief as she watched. Xander came over and stood beside her, "You sure about this?" he asked in a hushed voice as he leaned into her.

Faith nodded vigorously as she couldn't trust herself to speak at the moment.

The minutes seemed to pass like hours for Faith as the ship turned around and made its way back towards the site of the battle. She tried to stand still and keep her nervousness in check, but she ended up pacing back and forth, getting worrying looks from Xander and Cassie.

_Damn, I need a smoke_, Faith thought as she paced and fidgeted as she kept an eye on what was happening on the bridge.

Further thoughts were dropped as a voice rung across the bridge, "SIR! I'm picking up an emergency locator beacon! I-It's coming from the Captain's fighter!"

Faith didn't know whether to yell or faint, but she felt her heart beat faster and her hope start to soar. Before she could get her hopes any higher another voice cried out.

"CONTACT! Have hard sensor contact! Computer ids it as a Mollusk Carrier…it's under power and on an approach vector!"

"WEAPONS! Get a lock on that target and prepare to fire on my command!" Aaron ordered quickly without hesitation.

"Sir! The beacon is coming from the same location as the Mollusk!"

"Jesus…" Aaron mumbled, "Get me a visual!" he ordered.

Faith had no idea what was happening, but she could feel the tension immediately ramp up. She was about to ask Cassie what was happening, when the main display came up and her heart froze at the sight.

"My God…" Faith said without thinking as she came to grips with what she was seeing.

The bridge was stunned as they saw the Invid ship on approach, laying across the top of the ship was a heavily damaged fighter in battloid mode.

Faith jumped as she heard Cassie gasp at seeing the damage the fighter had taken, the Beta module had been torn from the fighter, the right arm was gone up to the shoulder and the left arm was no better with the hand and forearm gone, the left leg was gone which left the right leg and torso as looking intact.

She could see that Aaron was frozen, along with the rest of the bridge crew as they all stared at the display screen, "DO SOMETHING!" she said trying to get them to snap out of it.

Aaron shook off his shock, he'd never heard of the Invid ever doing anything like this before. His first instinct was to open fire as his responsibility was to the ship and her crew and Captain Coleiro would understand, but at the same time this situation was unlike anything he'd thought he would ever face.

"Sensors, status of Invid ship?" he asked.

"Uh…picking up minimal power readings. Just enough to keep life support and engines going." Came the report back.

"Status of Invid fighters?"

"Minimal power readings…no signs that they're readying to launch."

"Sir, the Mollusk is slowing down…its holding position."

Aaron rubbed his chin while shaking his head trying to make sense of what they were witnessing. His thoughts were interrupted by Faith, "Why aren't you doing something?!"

He looked at her, "What do you want me to do? This has never happened before!"

"Call them…talk to them!" Faith pleaded.

"It's not that easy…Invid don't use radio communications like we do." Aaron explained shaking his head.

Faith couldn't believe it as she shook her head. She could see Paul's fighter and it was so close, but it might as well have been a million miles away for all the good it did. She wanted to punch something and scream out in frustration at God…the powers…everything and everyone for putting her through this. She was brought out of her thoughts as a bridge crewman voice cried out.

"Sir! The Carrier is pulling away!"

Everyone stared once again in disbelief as the Invid ship dropped away from the damaged fighter and pulled back slowly leaving it floating alone in space. For a split second, Aaron juggled with the decision to open fire, but the Captain's fighter was still too close to the Invid ship that it would get caught up in the fire and ensuing explosions. Something made him take a chance.

"Order the rescue shuttle to launch! Keep weapons lock on that carrier…if it so much as twitches…open fire!"

A chorus of "Aye Ayes" and "Yes, sirs" echoed across the bridge. Aaron turned to Cassie, "Lieutenant Evans, grab whatever pilots you can and get out there to cover that shuttle! I want you to keep an eye on the Invid. Something is going on here and I want to know what!"

"Yes, sir!" Cassie said coming to attention and then quickly turning and moving for the bridge elevator to head for the hanger deck and her fighter.

Aaron watched as Cassie with Faith and Xander following, left the bridge. He turned back and looked at the display screen and shook his head trying to figure out what was going on. He tried to put himself in Commodore Lau's and Captain Coleiro's shoes and think of what they would do in this situation. This was completely unheard of, the Invid just attacked and kept attacking until you were dead or they were all dead.

_What the hell is going on? What are they up to?_

He finally decided that the Invid had left it to him to make the next move, "Ensign Connors…I want you to put together a boarding team… I want you to take a shuttle over to that carrier and board her… You will take any Invid you find prisoner."

"Sir?' the young Ensign replied gulping in a confused voice.

"Your rules of engagement are that you do not fire unless you are fired upon first… I want to talk to those Invid and find out what they want."

**oOoOo**

Chief Larson was trying to keep herself in control and calm as she waited for the SAR shuttle to return. She was all to use to these moments — she hated them — but she had to maintain a cool and composed manner. This was in exact contrast to Faith, who she watched pacing in a nervous agitated state back and forth by the hanger deck door. An announcement came over the PA system.

_"Rescue shuttle on approach…they have the fighter in tow."_

Larson signaled to her deck crew to be ready and watched as they quickly moved into position to get at the wreckage.

Faith was startled by the announcement and started to rush forward, but saw Chief Larson signal her to hold back. It took all her will power to stand still as she saw the shuttle enter the landing bay. She saw a light blue light shimmering from the shuttle that surrounded the wrecked fighter. She felt her heart freeze as she got a close look of the remains of Paul's fighter. It took even more self-control for her not to rush to his ship and see if he was alive or dead. She felt her heart pounding heavily as she watched Chief Larson and the deck crew race to the wreckage and start prying their way through the fuselage to get to his canopy inside the torso of his battloid. Each second felt like an eternity as she watched the deck crew work. Suddenly the hanger deck rung with a shout.

"MEDIC!"

The med-techs were close by and didn't waste any time as they raced in. Faith felt as if time was slowing down as her feet slowly — almost hesitantly — carried her towards the wrecked fighter. She started moving faster towards the wreckage and stopped in mid-stride as she saw a body being pulled out of the wreckage, then carried and placed carefully on a stretcher. She saw the med-techs come racing towards her, carrying the stretcher and her heart jumped into her throat as she got her first glimpse of Paul. At first she thought he was dead, as he wasn't moving or responsive and there was blood everywhere. His flight suit was covered in blood and his flight helmet visor was shattered and covered in blood as well. She could feel her heart pounding as she heard the med-techs talk as they raced by.

"…pulse thready…"

"…head trauma…left eye has severe trauma…I'm getting no pupil response in the right one…"

"…get pressure on those wounds!"

Faith was reliving the engine room again, this time there was no demon for her to vent her anger, pain and helplessness on as she watched the med-techs race Paul out the hanger bay to the medical bay. She found herself frozen watching them leave, she was caught off guard as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She spun and found herself facing Chief Larson.

Larson saw the look on Faith's face as she saw the med-techs leave the bay, "Go! You're not doing any good here!"

That snapped Faith out of her shock, she took off sprinting to catch up with the med-techs.

**oOoOo**

Aaron had thought he'd seen everything and this was the last thing that he'd ever expect to be a witness to let alone directly involved with. He found it hard to read the dark purple alien eyes that stared from across the table at him. That Ensign Connors and her team had been able to board the Mollusk and encounter no resistance had been surprising, that the Commander of the ship confronted them and asked to speak to the human Commander had been both shocking and perplexing.

Aaron was finding that having to swim in the deep water filled with sharks was causing him to dig deep within him to do things that he hadn't thought he could do let alone ever have to do. It seemed another lifetime ago that he was only a very junior bridge officer and now he was acting Commander of the Arcadia and he was interrogating an Invid. He had debated waiting for the Dolphin and her group to rejoin the Arcadia and let Commander Wright take the lead, but something was going on and time might be of the essence. His thoughts drifted briefly to the last update he'd gotten from the medical bay on Captain Coleiro, he was hooked up to life support and they had stabilized him for now, but the prognosis wasn't good.

A brief bitter taste of anger and hate welled up in Aaron's throat as he looked at the Invid again, he took a deep breath and exhaled the bad air to get control of his emotions. He couldn't afford to let his feelings cloud this important moment, he needed answers.

"You do understand me?" he asked.

The Invid twitched its head, looking at him and nodded slowly, "Yes…we have knowledge of your language. The Regess has instructed us so that we understand you better to engage you in combat."

Aaron blinked in surprise at the statement and for a second he could have sworn that he saw the hint of a smile on the alien's face. He dismissed the thought and continued on.

"You realize that you, your ship and crew are prisoners of the Robotech Expeditionary Forces…"

"Yes…we no longer want to fight you."

Aaron's eyes went wide in surprise and shock at the statement. It took him a moment to recover before he could continue, "Y-You no longer want to fight?"

"Yes…"

"Why?"

The alien took a moment as if it was collecting its thoughts, "This universe is different…we cannot communicate with the Regess. She tries to speak but it is not getting through. Even if I could speak to her, this Regess is not the same as mine and she does not want to fight or engage in war."

_The surprises just keep coming!_ Aaron thought as his preconceptions of the Invid were changing by the second as he realized that this Invid had quickly grasped that they were all in a different universe.

"You would listen to this Regess…even if she doesn't want to fight?"

"She is the Regess…it does not matter what universe or dimension we are in. We are Invid and we listen and obey. We just want one thing now…"

Aaron was a little hesitant to ask, but he had to, "What is it that you and the others want now?"

"We want to go home…back to Optera."

**oOoOo**

As Giles walked into the medical bay, he still found himself amazed and astounded by the level of technology that was available. He still found himself a little envious as his little group — especially Buffy — could have benefited from having access to only a small fraction of the wonders that these people took for granted. He pushed those reoccurring thoughts aside as he made his way further into the medical bay, reaching an area that had doors that provided for private rooms. He knocked gently on the door and waited for a moment. His brows furrowed with some concern when there was no response, he gently pushed the door open and entered.

The room was almost dark except for the floor that was bathed in a soft light. His eyes were drawn to Captain Coleiro, lying in the hospital bed still unconscious and hooked up to a number of different machines to monitor his vitals and help him breath. Most of his face and head was wrapped up in bandages, but even from the little that Giles could discern through the bandages it was obvious that the Captain had been badly injured in his fight against the Invid.

His gaze moved over to the chair that had been pulled up next to the bed, Faith was curled up in the chair with her legs pulled up and tucked in tight to her. Her eyes were closed and she appeared to be resting or asleep even as her head leaned at an uncomfortable angle against the side of the chair. Giles felt a lump in his throat as he looked at her, even resting her face looked full of concern, worry and fear. That was why he had come down to the medical bay, he was concerned about her.

He quietly stepped closer to Faith, but found himself jumping slightly when she quietly spoke — her voice just barely louder than the sounds of the medical equipment humming and beeping.

"What is it Giles?"

Giles had been so concerned about her condition and state of mind that he'd momentarily forgotten that she was still a Slayer. He recovered quickly from being startled, "I came down to check on the Captain and you… Has there been any change in his condition?"

Faith sighed and opened her eyes to look at Giles. He was shocked to see her red-rimmed and bloodshot eyes.

"No… He's still in a coma. They said that the pressure on his brain from the swelling is building. If it doesn't go down or if they can't do something to relieve it, he'll either have permanent brain damage or…" Faith said with her voice full of sadness as it trailed off as she couldn't — wouldn't — say out loud the possibility that Paul could die.

"Isn't there anything they can do to help?"

"No…unless you're a neurosurgeon or if Willow can conjure one out of thin air. There's nothing that they can do aboard ship." she said sadly as she turned to look back at Paul.

A grim look came to Giles's face. He knew that the ship was short-handed as the event that had brought the Arcadia here had left the ship with only about a third of its regular complement. Only a handful of the ship's medical staff — a mix of nurses, orderlies and medics — had survived the transition. Even among the recently recovered survivors, there were no surgeons, which hadn't been problematic because the nurses, med-techs and automated medical equipment had been able to provide adequate treatment. It was a different situation with the Captain as his wounds, especially the head ones, were more severe and beyond the ability of the equipment to easily treat and repair.

Giles had been in the hanger bay and seen the remains of the Captain's battered fighter and blood spattered cockpit. That he'd survived the battle let alone the nuclear firestorm that he'd unleashed was nothing less than a major miracle, but his wounds were severe and the medical staff were doing all they could to stabilize and keep him alive.

He looked at Faith again and found his concern for her growing. It was obvious to everyone of how much she cared for the Captain, he found himself surprised that she could care for someone so deeply. Now Giles was worried of how she would react and what would happen to her if the Captain died. She had always lived and been on the edge. Surprisingly her time with Angel along with the time she'd spent in prison had improved her and taken some of that edge away, but there was always that something just lurking beneath the surface waiting to explode. Giles could see in some — superficial — ways, similarities shared between Buffy and Faith. While Faith tended to run wild and lose control, Buffy always seemed — at least outwardly — to be more comfortable with and in control of the killer that lurked just below the surface.

_Maybe she can hide it better_, he thought as he compared the two Slayers in his mind.

He knew that it hadn't helped that Faith's upbringing and family along with how she'd been used by people she'd trusted had caused her to lose her way and do the things she'd done. What he still found surprising was that she actually had wanted to change. That deep down she knew what she'd done was wrong. He still kept a wary eye on her and it would take a long time, if ever, before he would completely trust her again, but all he saw right now was a young woman who cared deeply — was in love — with someone who was gravely injured and she was hurting.

"Maybe you should go back to your cabin…get some rest. You might—" he started to say.

Faith's voice had a hard determined tone in it as she cut Giles off, "No… I'm staying."

Giles sighed slightly as he saw how determined she was, but he was still concerned about her, "You should get some proper rest." he said.

She shook her head firmly, "I'm not leaving him."

Giles could see how stubborn she was going to be and decided to not push it any further, "Is there anything I can get you?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"No…" Faith replied quietly.

Giles stood there for a moment looking at the scene in front of him. He started to turn to leave when Faith spoke again in a quiet voice, "Thanks Giles… I-I…" she started to say trailing off not able to finish what she wanted to say.

He paused for a second and then moved back closer to Faith. He leaned slightly down and put his hand gently on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. He wanted to let her know that he was there for her. She turned and looked up at him with those sad red eyes and before he knew it she was out of the chair and hugging him burying her face into his chest. He was caught off-guard and a little surprised, but he quickly recovered and wrapped his arms around and held her in a tight embrace — like a father would hold his daughter. He could feel her body heaving as he held her tight as she sobbed quietly into his chest.

**oOoOo**

Giles managed to get Faith settled down and made his exit from the medical bay, it didn't take long for him to meet up with Buffy. As usual Spike was following Buffy around, but Giles put his disdain and feelings about Spike on the back burner for now as his main concerns and worries were about Faith and the Captain.

"How's the Captain doing?" Buffy asked showing her concern.

Giles heard the concern in her voice and his thoughts went back to the stories he'd heard going around the ship about Buffy and the Captain. He'd been meaning to have a talk with her about it. He'd seen and been in the same type of situations and he wanted Buffy to know that it never ended well for anyone. It didn't help the situation that Buffy had the chance to stop the Captain from going out there, but let him go.

_The last thing anyone on this ship needs is to have Faith and Buffy pursuing the same man…someone will end up hurt or dead_, he thought.

He decided to put those thoughts on the back burner for now as there were more immediate concerns to deal with. He let out a sigh as he related the Captain's medical condition that he'd gotten from Faith and one of the med-techs he'd talked to in the medical bay.

"How's Faith doing?" Buffy asked shaking her head sadly and dealing with her own feelings at hearing the news.

"Not well… She's trying to manage. I tried to get her to take a break, but she refuses to leave his side." Giles said sadly as the hospital room scene replayed in his mind.

"And there's nothing they can do to help him?" she asked still dealing with her guilt and that she was partly responsible for Paul's condition.

"Unless the swelling in his brain goes down or they can operate…which they don't have anyone aboard that can do it." he replied.

"Hello… Has everyone taken leave of their bloody senses?"

Giles let out an exasperated sigh, "Do you mind Spike…this is serious."

Spike let out a derisive snort, "Of course it is."

"Please Spike can you keep a lid on it?" Buffy said with her own exasperated sigh.

"Are you all bloody blind?" Spike said shaking his head slowly.

For Giles it became apparent that Spike wasn't going to stop, he was feeling tired and drained to keep doing this dance, "What is it Spike?" he said with a annoyed voice.

"Do you not see the wee blue and white planet out there?" he said turning and holding his hand out in direction of the Earth hanging in space outside the observation window behind him.

Buffy and Giles stared at him as if he was demented, "What are you going on about?" Buffy finally asked in a confused voice.

"The planet… You know the one…full of demons, vampires, Hellmouths and over six billion namby-pamby mouth breathers skittering across it." he said shaking his head in frustration that the Watcher and Slayer weren't picking up on what was front in of their eyes.

Giles was reluctant and figured he was going to regret asking, but he knew he had to, "What about the planet?" he asked with an obvious sigh.

"Don't you think there would be at least one doc on the planet that might be able to help the Captain?" Spike said with a smirk.

Giles and Buffy both stood there staring at him incredulously with their mouths hanging open at having missed the obvious.


	39. We need your help

**Author's Notes: Remember to see the poll on my profile page. Looking for feedback and to see how much interest there is in me writing a sequel to this story.**

**oOoOo**

**CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE:**

**We need your help…**

"_…First Faith, then hearing about that bugger and Buffy. On top of that, having to listen to all those preening Potentials go on about him. At least little bit {Dawn} was getting involved with someone else, but all these women coming out of the bloomin' woodwork and prattling on and on…_ _Well if I was the bloody Captain of a starship and a fighter pilot, I would have women throwing their knickers at me too. I was tempted to go into the hospital and pull the plug on the wanker myself…_"

— Quote attributed to Spike while on the Arcadia

**oOoOo**

Lieutenant Hanson could easily make out the incredulous look on Lt.-Commander Wright's face on the video display. Wright's face mirrored how his face looked when Buffy, Giles and most surprisingly Spike had come to the bridge to present their idea to save the Captain's life.

"You want to contact Earth?"

"Yes, sir. We want to establish contact with the United States government and ask them to provide the necessary surgeons along with any other medical personnel to operate on Captain Coleiro."

"Lieutenant Hanson, I may be new to this…uh…universe, but I have had a chance to review the records. Am I not wrong but is this not the same government you want to contact the one that launched nuclear weapons at you?"

"Yes, sir. But desperate times—"

"Call for desperate measures… Yes, I'm well aware." Wright paused for a moment as he considered everything he had been told. His laughingly called "task force" was making its way to rendezvous with the Arcadia. Once there they could work on getting the ships repaired and back to full operational status. He was concerned about the Captain's status too, but there was another slightly more important situation that had to be dealt with.

"What's the status of the Invid?"

"We're keeping an eye on them with all our weapons locked on the Mollusk. The Invid Commander…her name is Tashe, repeats her request to go home and there has been no movement or increase in activity by the carrier's mecha."

Wright shook his head while scratching his head, "I thought I would never see the day…but we can't stay at battle stations indefinitely watching them for a move they may or may not make."

"Yes, sir."

"Lieutenant, I want you to take one of the remaining Skylord warheads and attach it to the outside of the Mollusk, by the engines. Rig it up with a remote detonator that we can set off and let this…Tashe know in no uncertain terms that any provocation or misstep…"

"Yes, sir. I see where you're going with this. We'll make the necessary arrangements."

"Excellent, Lieutenant Hanson. Also can you make arrangements to setup a communications system with the Invid. We may want to be able to tell them to move when and where we want them to." Wright said as he prepared to wrap up his call with Hanson.

"Yes, sir..." Aaron paused for a second, "Uh…sir?"

"Yes, Lieutenant?"

"About the Captain?"

Wright sighed as he felt like a first year cadet at forgetting about the main reason that Lieutenant Hanson had called him, "Lieutenant, from reading the Captain's reports he expressed some reservations about who he could contact and trust on the planet in light of events. You do realize that the people down there will probably want something in return?"

"Yes, sir. I understand the implications, but I don't think that we have much of a choice considering the Captain's situation and our own circumstances," Aaron replied with a nod.

Wright let out a tired sigh, "I take it you have a plan on how to make contact?"

A small smile flashed on Aaron's face, "Yes, sir. We have the survivor from the shuttle that attacked us. We're going to ask her to make contact with the US military and ask for someone that one of our passengers knows and trusts. They can act as go-betweens for us."

"Are you sure that this person will help us?"

"Sir, I have some people talking to her right now trying to convince her to help us." Aaron said trying not to show any nervousness on how that conversation could go sideways on them.

**oOoOo**

Megan was unsure of what was happening as she was led down a corridor. She'd been staying in her cabin, which she was surprised to find spacious and comfortable, doing some reading on the alternate universe. She had been given limited access to Arcadia's computer network and she'd taken advantage to explore the other universe's history. She found it fascinating to see where her history and the Arcadia's history started becoming different. She'd immersed herself in the history of the other Earth's Global Civil War and was surprised to find out what had happened to the United States. As she read the historical material, she found it amazing that she was reading something that had actually happened in another reality as it felt like something out of a science-fiction story. Her imagination was fired even more when she delved into Robotechnology, finding out what it was and what it could do. She found herself breathless with excitement at realizing what the potential benefits were and the advancements it held. Her excitement became a sobering wake-up call when she accessed the historical records of the Robotech Wars and the battles with the Invid. The death and destruction from those accounts made the Global Civil War or any war she was familiar with pale in comparison.

Captain Coleiro had told her about her doppelganger — Sonia. She got the impression that the Captain knew Sonia very well, but she wasn't sure about the type of relationship they had. She knew that her mother had considered Sonia as one of the choices for her name before settling on Megan. That had stoked her curiosity and imagination to know what her other universe counter-part was like and what she did. That's when she came across the records of the Grim Reapers Squadron and literally stumbled across finding Sonia Blair listed as a pilot in the squadron.

Her excitement at finding that her counterpart was an actual fighter pilot that flew in space was tempered at finding that Sonia had died fighting the Invid on some far remote planet. Megan actually found herself with tears in her eyes as she saw the picture of the woman who looked like her…no, not looked like…it was her just a different version as she read the squadron service record and history.

Any further thoughts of her other self and research were pushed aside as the Arcadia engaged in combat. At first she thought that somehow Earth had been able to launch another missile strike and found she had mixed feelings about that possibility. When she found out that the Invid had somehow crossed over to this universe, there was a moment of fear at the thought that she would meet the same fate as Sonia. Those thoughts were pushed aside as the ship's PA system announced that the Invid had been defeated. It was only later that she heard from the other women quartered on the deck that Captain Coleiro had lured the Invid into a trap and set off a bunch of mines. As she walked the corridors and sitting in the cafeteria, she heard the others talk about the Captain's fate and at first that he was dead, but then his ship had been recovered and he was in the hospital.

She found herself surprised to be worried about the Captain. They had only briefly talked, but she found it strange that she had talked with a complete stranger that seemed to know her — or at least her alternate self — really well. She had taken the time to do some research on the Captain and was surprised to find that he had a long and distinguished record along with a somewhat colorful history. She actually found herself wishing that she had gotten to spend more time talking to him.

She was filled with these thoughts and a mix of emotions as she entered the conference room. She was surprised to be met by three women — the blonde and brunette that she'd met earlier and an older looking woman. She quickly noticed that all three women looked worried and concerned, but it was evident that the brunette was more deeply troubled about something from the look on her face and redness of her eyes.

"Please sit down." the blonde said offering a seat at the conference table.

Megan kept her guard up as she took the offered seat. She kept studying the other women's faces and body language as they took their seats on the other side of the table. She quickly deduced that something was going on and that these women wanted something from her. Deciding to not be passive, she took the initiative, "You want something," she said speaking first and catching the other women by surprise. She was a little surprised when the older woman snorted and a small smile came to her face as she shook her head slowly.

A small nervous smile came to the blonde's face, "Yes…can I call you Megan?"

Megan nodded slowly still trying to figure out what the women wanted.

"Maybe I should introduce us first. I'm Buffy…this is Faith and then there is Chief Larson," Buffy said trying to hide her nervousness and uncertainty over her plan. She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts before continuing on, "You know that we were attacked by the Invid."

Megan nodded slowly, "Yeah, I heard that Captain Coleiro stopped them…" As soon as she mentioned the Captain's name, she saw the brunette — Faith — wince in pain. It took her a moment, but she finally recognized the look on her face.

_They're involved with each other…_

The older woman spoke out, "Yeah, the Captain stopped them. We thought he was dead, but we were lucky enough to recover him. He's in Medical right now…he's in bad shape."

Megan was puzzled by this meeting and why she was here, "I'm no doctor and you're the ones with all the highly advanced equipment."

"That's part of the problem…the event that brought us here. We lost all our surgeons…and the Captain needs surgery, if he's going to make it," Larson replied.

"I still don't know what you want from me?" Megan asked feeling confused over where this was going.

Buffy spoke, answering her question, "We want you to act as a go-between…between the Arcadia and the government."

Megan was stunned by this request, "You're kidding…right?" She found herself with a sinking feeling in her stomach as she saw the serious looks on the three women. She found herself being pulled in all directions. She knew who these people were and how they got here, but at the same time, they had "invaded" the United States, fired on her soldiers, caused massive mayhem and chaos across the country and then topped it off by having an alien fleet threaten the planet and detonate an ungodly amount of nuclear weapons in space.

"I don't…I can't," she said not sure if she was happy or sad over her decision.

Faith watched Megan. Her hands were underneath the table fidgeting as they held the picture frame. She'd hoped that she wouldn't have to play this card as it was a desperate play, but she was desperate. She found that she would do anything to save Paul, which shocked her and reaffirmed her feelings for him. She was even toying with the idea of threatening Megan to co-operate, but she knew that once she started down that path there was no going back. She figured that Chief Larson wouldn't object, but Buffy would be a different matter.

"Please help us…help him," Faith asked in an almost quiet voice.

Megan was still fighting with her confusion. Her training was telling her not to co-operate, but a part of her was screaming at her to do something to help them. She found it strange that she was again worried about the Captain's condition and whether he lived or died. Her training won out as she shook her head slowly. She couldn't make eye contact with the others as she did it.

"He told you about your other self? Sonia?" Faith asked.

Megan looked up towards Faith, She nodded not sure where this was going. She watched as Faith pulled her hands from beneath the table. She arched an eyebrow in surprise, seeing that Faith was holding on to what looked like a picture frame. Her surprise turned to shock as she saw and realized who were in the picture together.

"H-How? W-Why?" was all she could say as her brain and emotions tried to deal with the picture of seeing herself — the other her — with a much younger looking Captain Coleiro.

Faith took a deep breath first as this was as difficult for her as it was for Megan, "Sonia…and Paul. They were a couple…they were lovers back in his universe. He was there when she died... H-He pulled her from the wreckage of her fighter. H-He held her as she died."

It hit Megan hard as it suddenly all started to make sense about how the Captain had seemed to have known her so well and the strange looks he gave her when they talked.

"I-I…" was all she could manage to say as she dealt with her shock.

Faith took another deep breath still feeling unsure of what she was doing as it felt so out of character for her, "Sonia loved Paul… She would've done anything for him…I know you're not Sonia, but you can do what she can't do for him now. You can help save him…" She was so close to getting down on her knees to beg for help, "I love him…please help save him."

Megan met Faith's eyes and looked back at the picture. Her mind and emotions fought with the decision that she had to make.

**oOoOo**

Riley found himself still trying to figure out what was going on as he was being escorted by two fully combat-outfitted marine guards through the hallways of the Pentagon. He noted the looks of confusion and shock on the people's face they passed. He could sense the fear and almost panic-like state that hung over everyone as people scurried out of the guards' way.

He'd been in California, working on the mission that General Coulson had assigned him, when he was suddenly ordered to Washington. He had no idea as to the reason or importance in his new orders, but it had to be something major as he found himself being stuffed into the backseat of an F-15E Eagle. The fighter took off, flying at supersonic speeds across country, where they landed at Andrews Air Force base. He was hurriedly and unceremoniously pushed into a black SUV and driven straight to the Pentagon.

As he was being lead towards wherever his final destination was, he tried to put the pieces together to figure out why he'd been ordered and bought across the country. On top of dealing with his new circumstances, he was — like the rest of the world — still dealing with the fallout of finding out that aliens _did exist_ and that a huge battle had just been fought on Earth's doorstep. Riley was used to dealing with the supernatural as he'd been fighting demons and vampires for years, but he was strangely having problems coming to grips with the idea of extra-terrestrials. Samantha and he had heard the President's announcement about aliens arriving and threatening Earth. Then the huge, brilliant and brief blinding suns that flared and disappeared in space were a testament to the new reality and the threat they all faced.

Riley figured that something had changed or gone wrong with the investigation he and Samantha were doing for General Coulson. He prepared himself for the appropriate rebuke or dressing down as he tried to figure out where he and Samantha had slipped up. He was caught by surprise when he realized that he wasn't being lead to an office, but the main operations center for the Pentagon. He thought he'd seen surprise, confusion and chaos in the corridors, but his entry into the operations center unveiled a new level as the marines escorted him pass the guards stationed at the door.

The noise of the room hit engulfing him. He could hear many voices talking, trying to be heard. Along one wall, flat screen displays were showing the latest coverage from the main news networks. The broadcasters tried to maintain a calm professional demeanor, but their voices betrayed their fear as they took on almost hysterical, fearful tones as they tried to read the news and calm their viewers. Riley stopped for a moment to watch one news anchorperson start weeping as they tried to read a news release telling everyone to remain calm and that everything would be alright.

_So much for cool and calm under fire_, Riley thought trying to keep his own disturbed emotions in check.

The marines urged Riley to keep moving as they made their way across the operations center. He could see that he was being lead to a large group, his bad feeling grew as he recognized General Coulson among the group and several other high ranking officers and officials. He suddenly became very conscious of the state of his attire as he was still wearing his sweat-stained flight suit from his cross-country flight.

He could feel the air heavy with tension as he got closer and he could pick up the odd word and sentence through the noise and started noticing people in the command center stop working to stare at him as he got closer to the large group of brass and VIPs. He became even more self-conscious from the looks he was attracting and found himself wishing he'd brought a change of clothes with him, so he could face his fate in something more comfortable or at least cleaner. He then recognized an older more distinguishing looking man at the center of the group, which caused him to gulp like he hadn't done since his first day of boot camp. Any further thoughts were cut-off as the man he recognized spoke out in a gruff and loud voice that seemed to silence and echo across the room.

"Is that him?"

Riley found himself visibly gulping again as the Secretary of Defense moved towards him. He heard General Coulson answer the SECDEF's question, "Yes, sir…that's Riley Finn."

Riley found the SECDEF standing in front of him. He was a slightly shorter man than Riley and even with him looking down, he couldn't help but feel intimidated as the older man looked him up and down. Riley was wondering how and what he'd royally screwed up to now be finding himself called out in front of the SECDEF.

Before he could give it any further thought, the SECDEF immediately started bombarding him with questions, "What's your connection with them? How do they know you? What are their capabilities? What are their intentions to us?"

Riley stood there with a glazed confused look on his face as he had no idea what the man was talking about. Coulson saw the confused look on his subordinate's face and decided it was time to intervene, "Sir, maybe we should give Agent Finn a moment?"

Thankful for the General's support, Riley snapped out of his obvious stupor, finding his voice to finally respond, "Sir, maybe if you can tell me what is going on, then maybe I can answer your questions."

The SECDEF looked Riley up and down as he considered what the young man had said and appraised him once again. He turned to General Coulson, nodding to him. The General returned the SECDEF's nod as he stepped forward.

"Less than six hours ago we received this message directed at us," Coulson made a gesture with his hand and one of the junior officers jumped to carry out the command. A woman's face appeared on the large main display in the center of the center. Her voice carried through the room causing everyone to stop and listen.

_"This is Captain Megan Blair of the United States Air Force. I was assigned as Weapons Officer on the space shuttle Atlantis. I have been asked to act as an intermediary between the…um…forces in Earth's space and the United States government. These people mean you no harm and they wish to establish a dialog to discuss the current situation as they require your immediate assistance. To help with the negotiation process, they ask that you locate one of our agents…Riley Finn. He will act as your intermediary and can support the veracity and accuracy of any requests. When you have him, send a signal on this same channel and we can communicate further… Please do not delay as time is of the essence."_

The SECDEF studied Riley as he watched the video. He could see the look of confusion and disbelief on the young man's face. He could easily see that the younger man had no clue as to what was going on. If the situation wasn't so critical he would have tried opening communication channels without this Riley, but the situation was tense and the whole world was on the edge of panic. What happened over the next few hours could have a major impact on the future of humanity on the planet. He'd been kept up to date on the news and the global situation. The nuclear explosions in space — at least they seemed to be nuclear from the readings taken, but only more powerful — had impaired satellite communications around the globe which hadn't help to calm the situation as some stations had gone dark. The communication channels still available were being flooded with messages directed into space from around the world. The messages ranged from the hopeful and positive, _"Hello we welcome you in peace…"_ to the outright hostile _"We have nukes and we'll use them if you attack us…"_ along with the absurd _"We surrender and are willing to serve you as our new Overlords…"_

Coulson had briefed him on Finn's record and that he was involved with the investigation of the Vice-President. That Coulson trusted and valued him was one thing, but the stakes involved here were higher. The SECDEF had been given the authority by the President to handle the negotiations, this wasn't sitting well with the Vice-President, State Department and some members of the JCS. He knew that this "faction" was pushing hard for trying to draw the "aliens" in closer and launching another nuclear strike. From the information he'd viewed and the quick briefing from General Coulson, the SECDEF realized that the tech advantage that the "aliens" had was immense.

Riley's face had a look of shock and disbelief, turning away from the video display looking at General Coulson and the SECDEF. He finally managed to find his voice overcoming his shock and disbelief, "W-What?! Who?! Why me?!" he sputtered out.

Coulson had a tight smile on his face as he completely understood his subordinate's confusion. The SECDEF spoke first catching both of them off-guard, "We were hoping you would be able that question."

"I-I don't know how t-they would know me… I… I…" Riley said feeling overwhelmed by the situation.

The SECDEF frowned as he wished he knew why it was so important to have Finn here and what those people in space wanted, "Be that as it may… You're here now." He turned to the officer in charge of communications, "Colonel, send the signal. Let them know that Riley Finn is here."

"Yes, sir!" the Colonel replied quickly, turning to one of his subordinates to send a signal on the pre-arranged communications channel. Everyone in the operations center was tense as they waited. It wasn't long before one of the communication techs shouted out, "Sir! We're getting a reply… The message appears to be both an audio and video signal!"

The SECDEF nodded, "Well put it up on the main screen."

"Yes, Mr. Secretary…" replied the tech.

Riley heard one of the other officers mumble, "Maybe we'll get a chance to see what these alien bastards really look like."

"Message coming up on the screen…it's in real-time!" reported the communications tech.

Everyone watched in anticipation as the large video screen, on the wall, phased in and out as the signal was received and adjusted. The tension in the room was thick as everyone was trying to imagine what was going to happen and who was going to talk to them. As the signal cleared, they were greeted by the image of a blonde woman in her early twenties.

The room was silent for a long moment. The SECDEF and General Coulson were in shock as they both recognized the young woman on the video screen. They had never met her personally, but they'd seen her picture and read all the reports of her activities and exploits. It was Riley that finally broke the silence in the operations center.

For a moment Riley thought he'd lost his mind and couldn't speak as he fought to keep his balance as he suddenly felt dizzy as he looked at the blonde woman in disbelief. He managed to croak a word out of his constricting throat.

"B-Buffy?"

The young woman waved to the camera, "Hello Riley…" she said to the stunned group of military and civilian personnel in the operations center.

"B-Buffy, what the hell?"

A sheepish smile formed on her face, "It's a long story…" she said with a shrug.

The SECDEF looked at General Coulson, "Is this a joke?" he said somewhat louder than he planned.

Buffy's smile disappeared, "I can assure you that this is no joke."

The SECDEF studied the young woman on the screen, "I am US Secretary of Defense Joshua Campbell… I am representing the US government in these negotiations. We would like to know what your intentions are towards us and the planet."

Riley listened as the SECDEF spoke. He was still feeling like he'd been hit by a sledgehammer as he watched Buffy on the video display and the realization that she was in…space. He finally shook off enough of his shock that his mind was functioning at a somewhat normal level. That's when things started to click as he started putting the pieces together about what happened in Sunnydale. There were still a lot of gaps in his info, but that the proof was looking right at him was hard to ignore.

"Our intentions are completely peaceful." Buffy said answering the older man's question.

Riley recognized the tone in her voice. Without thinking he stepped forward and spoke forgetting where he was and who he was with, "What do you want Buffy?"

Buffy heard the tone in Riley's voice. The sheepish smile flashed again on her face as a memory of better times passed through her thoughts, but faded quickly as a serious look replaced it, "We need your help and we don't have a lot of time…"

**oOoOo**

Doctor Jon Loewy found himself nervously fidgeting as he stood on the tarmac at Andrews Air Force base as the first rays of the sun were just beginning to show. He was tired as he hadn't gotten much sleep in the last forty-eight hours, but he brushed it aside as he was trying to deal with the confusing and perplexing situation he found himself. Considering he was the head of Neurosurgery at Georgetown University Hospital and one of the top neurosurgeons on the East coast, he was having a hard time coming to grips finding himself standing around, in the early dawn, on an airfield surrounded my military people and other groups of unidentified people.

Before this change to his current scenery and situation, he had been helping out in the Emergency Department of his hospital. With the announcement by the President that aliens had arrived and that there was a threat to Earth, to say that there had been panic and overreaction by the population would be a vast understatement. The hospital had been overwhelmed and trying to deal with a huge influx of patients ranging from heart attacks to gunshot wounds as a result.

Focusing on treating injuries helped him drown out the near hysterical news reports from the TVs in the waiting room along with the rumors running rampant through the hospital that talked about alien invasions and destruction across the country and around the world. His professional demeanor projected an island of calm as he moved between patients, but he knew that it was all an illusion and a mask that was barely holding back his own fear and panic at the threat the planet faced.

He was on a brief break when a large group of soldiers, led by a man wearing what looked like an air force flight suit, had come storming in looking for him. He was surprised when the man, who identified himself as Agent Riley Finn "asked" that he assemble his surgical team, along with any equipment they needed and that they accompany him and the soldiers. A couple of the nurses had started to balk, but Agent Finn had made it clear that the request was related to national security and not up for discussion or debate and his asking was merely a courtesy. As they exited the hospital, Loewy and his team were shocked to see a whole convoy of SUVs and HUMVEEs waiting for them. They were quickly loaded up and whisked away.

Loewy was surprised to find that they were at Andrews. He at first thought they would be heading to the base hospital, but his surprise and confusion only grew as they were driven out to one of the runways and they were told that they could get out and stretch their legs. He had tried to ask a few indiscreet questions but was quickly told that it was on a need-to-know basis and that he would be briefed at the appropriate time. The mystery only deepened when another convoy of vehicles arrived and he found another medical team disembarking. The two medical teams quickly mingled, sharing what little information they had. Lowey was still wondering who needed a neurosurgeon and an ophthalmologist and why they were waiting at an airfield.

**oOoOo**

Riley stood with General Coulson off to the side, keeping one eye on the civilian medical people. He could see how nervous and confused they looked and he wasn't that far removed from how they were feeling as he was still trying to sort out this whole business.

"How long before they get here?" Riley asked.

"ETA has them here in less than 30 minutes. I just talked to OPS. They have them on radar coming in over the Atlantic…on course and on time. A flight of F-15s is meeting them to escort them in."

Coulson studied Riley's reaction, "You still seem surprised by it all."

"Even knowing Buffy and everything I've seen this still seems so—"

"Unreal." Coulson said with a smirk, "I hear you, son."

The General studied his subordinate and could see that he was still troubled, "Something you want to say?" Coulson asked catching Riley by surprise.

Riley considered the question. Normally he would have just kept his mouth shut and said "No, Sir." But these weren't normal times, "Yes, sir. What happens next?"

Coulson let out a small sigh, "We'll the plan is try and negotiate with these people and maybe they will share some of that advance technology of theirs and we all live happily ever after."

Riley couldn't help himself as he snorted at the General's comment, seeing his boss smile at his response, "You don't really believe that, do you sir?"

Coulson sighed, "You could let an old soldier have his illusions… No, this world is going to change in ways we can't even begin to imagine. Hell, the Russians have somehow gotten wind of us communicating with our friends up there and are screaming and threatening about us making alliances with aliens."

"Jesus… What is the President going to do?" Riley asked shaking his head in shock at hearing this news.

"He's already made a commitment to include them in future negotiations."

Riley understood the implications of this, "That means you're going to have to include the Chinese, French, Brits, Germans…"

"…and the Japanese, the South Koreans and pretty much everyone else on the planet will want a piece of these people." Coulson said with a sigh. He could see Riley's face and tell that he hadn't thought of the big picture and those implications were just starting to sink in now.

There was a long pause before Riley spoke again, "You don't believe that these people are from an alternate universe…do you, sir?"

Coulson sighed again, "Riley, after all the shit we've seen and had to deal with, I've learned to keep an open mind about these things and not to discount the impossible. Considering the technology and firepower they have, they could have just made demands and taken what they wanted. That they asked to talk and are allowing us to send a team up with the medical personnel, that says something and gives me some hope."

Riley nodded in agreement as he knew that Buffy would have never allied herself with someone that would hurt humans. There was one thing that did bother him as he replayed the video conversation over in his head. He'd heard the tone in her voice and look on her face as she explained the situation and the request for a surgical team. If he hadn't known better he could have sworn that she had feelings towards the Captain of that spaceship. He brushed those thoughts aside chalking them up to being tired as an airman brought a couple cups of coffee for him and the General.

Coulson sipped his coffee enjoying the taste and trying to relax. He found himself feeling nervous and excited knowing that the spaceship would be arriving soon. He gazed around at the different groups that were assembled on the tarmac waiting. Along with the medical personnel, there were an assorted group of civilians representing the State Department and NASA. Coulson let out a sigh that it appeared that these — people — spoke English as that would make the whole communication process easier. He noted some of the military people that would be accompanying him and Riley up to the Arcadia, there were a mix bag of specialists representing the Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines. Then there was the last group that hung on the outside of the groups, seeming to be watching and observing everyone. These were the intelligence people, they wore civilian clothes but they stood out from the other civvies. The General had been a little worried about the CIA and NSA trying to take over this mission, but the SECDEF had been given the authority by the President and he'd made it clear that Coulson would be in charge and making the calls during the negotiations.

One of the things that he'd done to make sure that this encounter went down with a lot less violence was to keep the military presence on the tarmac at a minimum. There were a few armed guards, but that was just a token presence. There had been a few protests about this that is until they saw the security plan he'd drawn up which included sniper teams ringing the airfield and quick reaction teams stationed less than two minutes away along with a fully loaded strike flight of F-18s on call less than five minutes away. The security wasn't only to deal with the incoming visitors as the memories of what had happened to the communications facility in Barstow were also front and center in his thoughts. Coulson hoped and prayed for the best, but he'd always been a pragmatist and prepared for the worse.

The General finished his coffee and looked at his watch. He gave Riley a small smile as he spoke, "I think it's time to let the good doctors and nurses know what's going to be happening here in the next few minutes."


	40. New threats and dangers…

**CHAPTER FORTY:**

**New threats and dangers…**

"_…When I exited the dropship on the Arcadia, it felt as if I had stepped into another universe or at the least had entered the set of a sci-fi movie. They had rolled out the red carpet to greet us, but it had still been a nervous and tense first meeting. That quickly changed as they gave us access and tours of the ship. I saw the eyes on the military people (including mine) go big and round in excitement as they got a close up look of the military hardware. Riley informed me later that the medical people had the same looks on their faces when they'd gotten their introduction to the medical bay. I'm pretty sure we could hear the NASA scientists and engineers squealing through the ship when they got their first look at the engine room and the space fold system…_"

— General Phil Coulson

**oOoOo**

Cloaked figures hovered around a holographic display table. Their single glowing eyes viewed the data being streamed. The eyes showed no expression, but the minds behind those eyes were concerned and worried about the data that was being displayed.

"Prelate, the Awareness has detected a threat to the Hegemony…"

The commander viewed the streaming data with cold unfeeling thoughts. His function and duty was to ensure the security, protect the Haydonite people and its empire and keep the other subjugated races in line. The data he viewed was something that he'd never expected to see within his lifetime and he found himself momentarily at a loss of how to react or what to do as Haydonite rule _had_ been absolute in this portion of the galaxy. The other inferior organic races were always restless, plotting and on the edge of rebellion, but they did not have the power or strength to stand against the Hegemony. The data he was viewing was telling him that there was now the existence of a power that presented a dire threat to the Haydonites.

He finally recovered enough from his hesitation to respond, "I see…There is no other information beyond what we are viewing?"

"No, sir. The Awareness has detected that somewhere in the galaxy, someone is using Protoculture."

The Prelate was still having some problems coming to grips with what he was being told as to his and everyone else's knowledge was that Protoculture could only be derived from the Flower of Life. There was only one known place that the flower existed — on the Invid homeworld of Optera.

"Is this the work of the Invid?" the Prelate asked.

"No, sir. Our garrison on Optera reports that all is normal on the planet. Our psi-jammers are working within prescribed parameters, the Regess is still isolated from the rest of her species," replied one of the other cloaked figures.

For a brief moment, the Prelate wondered why they had not exterminated the Invid and laid waste to the planet, forever removing the Flower of Life and the threat that it's bastardized child — Protoculture — posed to the Haydonites. He briefly considered the idea of ordering the fleet to Optera and removing this threat for once and for all, but then he remembered that his predecessors had tried to do this once before and the Invid had managed to survive along with their accursed plant.

The historical data records stated that when they had managed to find the Invid again, there had been much discussion about what steps to take. The Awareness had settled the argument by ordering that the Invid homeworld would be occupied and the race controlled to prevent the knowledge and power of Protoculture from spreading. It had been a very near thing too, as the Tirolians had just encountered the Invid and were on the cusp of discovering Protoculture. That had been the main driving force for the creation and expansion of the Hegemony — to control and prevent the other races from threatening the Haydonites along with them servicing and supporting the race.

"Do we know where this Protoculture is located and who is responsible?" the Prelate asked as he continued to study the streaming data.

"No, sir. The Awareness indicates that it cannot get a lock on the energy signal to give us a location."

The Prelate found it strange that the Awareness, which could foresee everything that was going to happen, had not been able to narrow down the location of this Protoculture energy signal. He had an unusual thought enter his mind. He found himself hesitating to voice the question that was forming, but his duty and responsibility to his race required that he ask the question, "Could the Awareness be mistaken?"

There was stunned silence as the other cloaked figures dealt with the question that their commander had asked that would have been considered traitorous and heretically if it had been voiced by anyone else. After what seemed an awkwardly long pause, one of the other Haydonites spoke, "Sir, there is no doubt about what the Awareness has detected…what is in doubt is what we are going to do to deal with this emerging situation."

The Prelate was taken aback by the tone and response of one of his sub-ordinates, but then this was not an ordinary event. He took a moment to craft his response to not only deal with this threat but also deal with any potential threats to his position, "Without knowing where or who is using Protoculture that limits our choices on how to respond. We will need to keep monitoring, gather more information... Send orders to the fleet to start dispatching scout vessels to make sweeps outwards from our borders to see if they can detect anything further. For now we will watch and wait. When we do locate who has embraced Protoculture, we will take action and remove this threat to the Hegemony. We all know that organics are no match for the mechanized might of the Haydonite Hegemony."

The Prelate looked around and could see that his course of action was being accepted by the others. It wasn't long before the Awareness replied, concurring with his assessment and plan.

**oOoOo**

Riley was trying to decide what he was having a harder time dealing with — being in space in orbit around earth aboard a huge spaceship or the story that Buffy had told him of how they had arrived at this current situation. He was walking beside Buffy just behind the medical personnel as they were all being led to the Arcadia's medical bay.

He found himself still trying to catch his breath from everything that had gone down in the last several hours. From the arrival of the dropship at Andrews, to seeing Buffy climb down with Captain Blair and another female junior officer, the quick introductions, to the hurried loading and take-off and climb back into space. The selected group of Earth representatives had been naturally nervous, excited, afraid and curious. Buffy, Captain Blair and Ensign Connors had gone out of their way to calm everyone and explain what was happening as the dropship took off and climbed rapidly into the sky. They had given all the military and science people tours of the command cabin and answered any questions that they had. The trip hadn't lasted very long as the Arcadia had moved into a high orbit around the planet.

There was an increase in wariness and nervousness when it became obvious that the huge spaceship was a military vessel. Riley had been slightly amused by the reaction from the science people at their disappointment seeing that the primary purpose of the Arcadia was for military operations. The medical people weren't apart of this as they were being briefed and brought up to date on the current condition of their new patient by one of the medical staff from the ship. Riley had exchanged pleasantries with Buffy, but he knew that wasn't the time or place to get into the discussion of what, how and why they were all there.

Everyone was surprised as they disembarked the dropship to be greeted by an honor guard. There was a moment of apprehension among the visitors at seeing all the armed people standing at attention wearing what was obviously some heavy duty body armor. That moment passed quickly as they were greeted by Lieutenant Hanson, who was the acting commander of the ship. He informed everyone that the acting task force commander would be joining them later for meetings. Beyond this formal greeting, the medical personnel were hurried away to see their patient. Riley had been asked by General Coulson to accompany that group to keep an eye on them and also observe and report on everything he saw.

As they made their way to the medical bay, Riley overheard a few of the medical people make some joking references to the old Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man". He didn't say anything at the time, but his guard was still up even knowing that Buffy was involved. They walked for a bit in an uncomfortable silence as he struggled with what to ask first. He finally decided to plunge into it.

"Space, huh? I thought you were afraid of flying?" he asked.

Buffy smiled which brought a smile to his face in return, "Yeah…who would have thought, Slayers in Space."

Riley snorted, "At least there are no vampires or demons up here," he said jokingly.

He saw the expression change on her face, "Well there is Spike, but we had a problem…one of the people aboard the shuttle you sent up here to fire nukes at us was a Brachen Demon. It attacked and killed three of the crew."

"N-Nukes?! You're kidding right?!"

Buffy studied him, then shook her head slowly, "You didn't know, did you?"

"No, this is the first that I'm hearing about this."

Riley didn't know which bit of info was more shocking — hearing that they had sent a shuttle up here to launch nukes or that one of the shuttle crew was actually a demon. At hearing that one of the shuttle crew was a demon, something clicked in his head and he started to make sense of the investigative work that General Coulson had him and Samantha doing. He filed that bit of information away to bring up with the General later along with why he hadn't been briefed about the attack. His thoughts shifted on to another topic.

"Why are you doing this for them…this Captain?" he asked.

"They saved us back in Sunnydale…"

"It was that bad?"

Buffy nodded, "Yeah…it was looking like the end and then Cassie literally falls from the sky. When things got worse, Paul…uh…Captain Coleiro showed up and cut a swath through the Bringers and Turok-Hans and brought us up here."

Riley's eyes narrowed slightly as he picked up on Buffy using the Captain's first name, "Paul? Huh?"

He was surprised to see Buffy blush not meeting his gaze at first. He arched an eyebrow in surprise as his thoughts ran wild and he was surprised to hear the murmurings of a jealous voice inside him.

Buffy finally made eye contact, seeing the look on his face spoke quickly, "It's not like that!" she started to protest, "He's a good man…besides he's involved with Faith."

Riley's face showed nothing but surprise at hearing this information, "Faith?! She's here?! I-I mean I heard that she broke out of prison, but last reports had her in LA or headed to Mexico."

Buffy shrugged, "She was there with us in Sunnydale…ready to face the end with the rest of us."

"He probably doesn't realize who he's gotten himself involved with." Riley muttered shaking his head recalling his own encounters with Faith.

Buffy heard him and surprisingly felt a flash of anger at his comment, "It's different for Faith…for them," she bristled.

Riley was taken aback by the tone of her voice, "Y-You're not saying… Faith and this guy are…"

Buffy gave him a look, "Love is a strange thing."

Riley shook his head as he thought he'd seen and heard everything today. As they made their way into the medical bay, Riley went over everything again in his head. He knew that he needed to have a face to face with General Coulson.

_It probably wouldn't hurt to have all of us sit down and talk…_

**oOoOo**

Doctor Loewy was dealing with a mix of feelings that ranged from stunned disbelief to being like a kid in a candy store. He found his head twisting back and forth as he marveled at all the medical technology as one of the ship's medical personnel gave him and his surgical crew a quick orientation and training on the scanners and monitors. The closest he could remember to ever feeling this way was when he'd assisted on his first surgery. That had been a memorable day as it had reaffirmed his desire and wanting to be a surgeon. This was something else as he saw the tech and got a look at some of the treatment protocols, diagnostic equipment and just the advance knowledge these people had. If he was asked to sum up what he was feeling into one word, that word would be…excitement.

He could see the endless potential and benefits that these people offered with their advance knowledge and a part of him regretted being the age he was, as he found himself wanting another lifetime to learn everything that they knew that he could use to treat his patients.

His thoughts came back down to earth as he heard one of his nurses ask a question about surgical procedures. This switched his attention back to the tablet in his hand that contained all the current medical information for his newest patient. Looking at the heart and brain activity readings that were updated in real-time, Loewy could only shake his head in amazement. By all rights his patient should be dead. When he'd first been told that his patient had survived a nuclear blast, he had been dumbstruck and when he'd been briefed on the patient's injuries, he'd assumed that either the patient would die, remain in a coma or have permanent brain damage. That assumption and diagnosis had changed when he saw the brain activity scans. The readings from the scanners — which caused Loewy to be envious and excited at seeing how advance the technology was — indicated that there was higher brain activity taking place.

_You're very lucky my friend, you've already had two miracles…now if we can just relief the pressure and swelling, you just might have a third one_, he thought as he studied the readings.

His attention shifted as he looked up to see medical personnel wheeling a gurney with his patient towards the operating theater. He couldn't help but notice the good looking brunette keeping pace with the gurney, holding on to the patient's hand. A small smile came to his face watching the young woman. It was reassuring to know that humans were basically the same no matter what universe they came from.

_Okay then…let's get to work_, Loewy thought as his thoughts shifted once again as he followed one of the med-techs to the scrub room to prepare for surgery.

**oOoOo**

"Wow!"

Buffy couldn't help but smile at Riley's reaction as they entered the observation deck and were greeted with a huge view of Earth. She watched as he gaped at the blue and white world that seemed to fill the windows.

"Yeah, it's quite the view. I still find it hard to believe that this is all real," she said with a smile, but it started to fade as images flashed back of the battle wreckage and the dead woman she'd found on the other REF ship.

Riley picked up on the change in her mood, "What's wrong?"

Buffy sighed, "It's…it's just that I thought I had seen it all," she said with a bit of sadness in her voice.

He picked up on her mood and he suddenly found himself feeling confused as he found himself wanting to hold and hug her to make her feel better. Before he could give it any further thought, the door opened, Giles and Willow came into the room.

"Hey Riley!" Willow said with a smile.

Riley couldn't help himself but smile, "Hey Will," he said nodding to Giles and getting a nod in return.

"So how did you manage to get this room for us to use?" Willow asked getting an astonished look on her face similar to Riley's as she stared at Earth.

"I guess it helps when my sister is dating the guy in charge," Buffy said with a smirk.

Riley spun giving Buffy a surprised look, "You mean Dawn and Lieutenant Hanson are…? Little Dawn?"

Buffy couldn't help but laugh at the look on his face, "Must be something they put in the air," she said with a smirk.

"Any news on the Captain?" Giles asked changing the tone of the conversation.

Buffy's smile faded at the question, "He's still in surgery."

"Faith?" Willow asked.

"Pacing and nervous, but she's more hopeful now," Buffy replied.

"So why did you call us up here, Buffy?" Giles asked.

Riley stepped in, "This was my idea…I think we need to share some information."

Giles arched an eyebrow in surprise, "I think that's an excellent idea, maybe we should sit down and get started," he said.

"We're just waiting on one more person, who can provide a lot more answers," Riley had barely finished his statement, when the doors to the room opened and General Coulson came in followed by Lieutenant Hanson.

**oOoOo**

Coulson tried not to be too obvious as he studied the people across the table from him. After the pleasantries had been made, each group had taken a side of the conference table. He had hoped for this sit down, but he knew that he couldn't be away long without raising questions among the rest of the visiting delegation. He found himself in a quandary, beyond Riley, he didn't know who he could trust. His eyes moved towards Buffy and took another opportunity to look her over as he'd heard about Slayers, but had never met one in person before. This time she caught him looking and held eye contact with him. He was surprised to actually feel a little intimidated by the young blonde. Riley's voice snapped him back into focus.

"Sir, Did we launch a shuttle mission armed with nukes with the purpose of attacking these people?"

Coulson debated momentarily over how to respond, but he knew that he needed to build trust with these people, "Yes…"

He saw the look on Riley's face and quickly followed up with an explanation, "I argued against the folly of such a mission, but those at higher levels argued, successfully, that the country had been attacked and that a response was needed."

"Why did you continue the attack after we tried to warn you off?" Lieutenant Hanson asked.

The expression on Coulson's face changed, "We tried to call off the att…uh…mission, but the shuttle didn't respond and the communication ground station that we needed to use to communicate directly with you was attacked and everyone there killed and the equipment wrecked."

Coulson studied the looks of reaction on the others' faces.

"Do you know who was responsible for that attack on your station?" Giles asked as he studied the General trying to get a handle on this "new player".

"It was vampires from what we could tell," replied Coulson.

"It sort of starts to explain things with that Brachen Demon being on the shuttle…" Willow muttered aloud.

"A-A what on the shuttle?!" Coulson said feeling caught off-guard by this tidbit of information that he was just getting now.

Riley saw the look on his commander's face and he jumped in quickly, "Yes, sir. It appears that one of the shuttle pilots was a Brachen Demon and it attacked the crew and tried to commit acts of sabotage on the ship."

Coulson didn't respond as he processed this new information trying to fit it in with all the other information he had.

Buffy studied the General and got the sense that he knew more of what was going on than what he was saying. She hated being left in the dark. She was getting a feeling similar to what she had when she was dealing with the Initiative, "What the hell is going on?" she asked.

Coulson heard the question and he debated over how much he should tell these people. He was again caught off-guard as Riley spoke up.

"Sir, does this have anything to do with the work you have Sam and I doing in LA?"

Coulson wasn't fooled as he saw the look on his sub-ordinate's face and heard the tone of the question. He figured that Riley was putting some of the pieces together. He momentarily again debated over how much he should divulged, but considering the people potentially involved he quickly realized that he might need some allies outside the system, especially if the threat went as high as he suspected.

"Without understating the necessity, what I say in here doesn't leave this room and you don't talk about it with anyone else. We have to be careful about who we tell this too…" he paused for a moment, "To answer Riley's question, yes…we think that certain people and elements within the government are working with or under the influence of an outside power."

He saw the looks of disbelief and shock cross the faces of the others as his words sank in among them.

"Y-You're not implying that our government is working with demons and vampires?" Riley said as he tried to grasp with the implications of this information.

"I'm not implying… I'm saying it as fact, as events and evidence seem to point to that conclusion," Coulson replied.

"What about Captain Blair? Is she a demon? Has she done anything to sabotage this ship?" Coulson asked as he tried to put more pieces of the puzzle together.

"No, she's human and was unaware that there was demon aboard her ship," Giles answered.

"Hmmm…I'm still trying to figure out why she was selected for the mission and what her connection is with all this," Coulson said out loud as he took on a contemplative look on his face.

"She's here because she looks like someone that Captain Coleiro knows," Buffy said catching Coulson by surprise.

"Yes, it appears that Captain Blair was sent up here as an unwitting agent provocateur to undermine the Captain," Giles added as he saw the confused look on the General's face.

"How high up does this go, sir?" Riley asked.

Coulson was hesitant to name who he thought was involved and say more about his suspicions. So far the investigation and the list of suspects had been limited to him and the SECDEF. As he once again looked over the group, he debated again over how much more he could say because beyond Riley, he didn't really know these people, "We have to be very careful about what we do and what we say. The people we're going up against are powerful and we'll only get once chance at this."

"I take it you have a plan?" Giles asked.

A small smile came to Coulson's face, "For now, we watch and wait. We work on finding out who is all involved and who we can trust…"

"Why can't you just get rid of them?" Buffy asked.

Coulson sighed, "First of all, we can't just up and remove these people…we still have due process and it's not like we can go into the Oval Office and tell the President that a good portion of the executive branch, congress, the senate and upper echelons of the military may be conspiring with demons and vampires."

"How could you not know what was going on with the government?" Buffy said with an angry tone in her voice.

Coulson sighed again and shrugged, "It wasn't like we were watching for this. This infiltration was done carefully and quietly and appears to have been planned out and taking place over years. The only reason we became aware of it was the arrival of the Arcadia and their intervention in Sunnydale. You threw a wrench into their plans and became a threat. It forced them to take action and they exposed themselves."

"Do you know what their ultimate goal is?" Giles asked.

"No…and that's what worries me. Whatever their goal is, they've been at it for a long time to get their people into positons of power. This wasn't something that was slapped together overnight," Coulson said shaking his slowly.

"So we watch and wait?" Buffy said still trying to grasp the extent of the threat.

"Yes…until we can gather enough evidence to take action or somehow force them to show their hands and expose themselves, we have to wait. Like I said, the arrival of the Arcadia has thrown them off," Coulson looked at Aaron, "The technology and power that you people have is a threat to them and their plans. We just have to have patience and keep watching without them knowing we're on to them."

**oOoOo**

The Vice-President hated when his master came to visit him in his house. There was always the risk that someone would see the demon entering or leaving his residence, but his master seemed indifferent to it. This time the VP was even more nervous as his master hadn't come alone. He'd heard about the Harbingers of Death, but he'd never seen one up close before. The two Bringers standing to the side of his master gave him chills. He didn't what was worse — that those creatures could seem to look at you even though their eyes were closed over with symbols carved into eyelids or that these beings were the servants of the First Evil.

The VP was sure that his master was here to punish him for his failures and he pleaded his case to avoid the excruciating pain that he would have inflicted on him.

"Master… I-I tried to stop those people. I pushed for another attack on the spaceships, but the President and Secretary of Defense are the ones in favor of talking to these 'people'," the VP said in scared voice.

The demon smirked at seeing his servant beg and squirm as it filled himself with a sense of joy, "Yes, I'm aware of your efforts, so is my master. We appreciate the work that you have done to try and prevent that meeting from taking place, but we now have another task for you."

"Y-Yes m-master…anything you want from me. I will serve you."

"Good…we want you to now embrace and support the arrival of these people," the demon said with a sinister smile showing its fangs.

"M-Master?" the Vice-President said in a confused voice.

"It appears that Secretary of Defense and General Coulson have gotten wind of our plans and they have started making discrete inquiries about you and others that are important to our plans for the future."

"That bastard Coulson! We should have him removed!" the VP spat out in disgust.

The demon sneered, "Patience…we must have patience. We will get the opportunity to remove Coulson and the others when the time is right, but for now you and the others must stay low and embrace and support this change taking place."

"But master, the threat that these people represent…they could disrupt or interfere with the plan."

The VP was caught off-guard and surprised when one of the Bringers stepped forward and he suddenly heard an eerie disembodied voice, filled with hate and anger, echoing in his head causing him to shudder in fear, _"We are aware of the threat that these new people represent. There is much unknown about them except that they represent a new power. Where our path was sure and inevitable, there is now uncertainty and we must now tread carefully so that we can fulfill our plan and destiny."_


	41. Pioneer Mission redux…

**CHAPTER FORTY-ONE:**

**Pioneer Mission redux…**

"_…For such a small contingent of REF personnel, the impact on Earth cannot be underestimated. The Arcadia and the rest of the REF ships showed humanity what was possible and their technology opened new avenues of thought and ideas. There was at first some mistrust between the nations over who would get access to this knowledge and technology. Credit must be given to the US President and the command staff of the Arcadia {later reaffirmed by Captain Coleiro} that all the knowledge and technology would be shared, but that the weapons and military technology would be managed and controlled by the REF. There were dissenters that argued about access to and acquiring this new weapons technology. The most famous occurrence occurred during a public television interview where an ill-informed United States Senator debated with Captain Coleiro, arguing that the Captain should show some loyalty and allegiance to the United States. Coleiro's famous reply was, "_my father was born in Brazil, my mother in Canada and I was born on a former French territorial possession, my loyalty and sworn oath is to the planet and the human race, not a single country_". It is not hard to see why the Captain became a popular celebrity around the world…_"

— excerpt from "_The Arcadia Effect – Effects and Evolution of Human Society from 2003 to 2013_"

**oOoOo**

Paul looked at himself in the mirror, finding himself slightly disliking the image staring back at him. This was now a part of his daily ritual, turning his head from side to side looking at the eye patch and souvenir scars covering the left side of his face. The hair on his head had thankfully grown back covering the scars from his surgery, but he was left with some small scars and a big scar that ran down vertically on the left side of his face over his eye down most of his cheek. They had been able to save the eye but the doctor hadn't been overly optimistic about the long term prospects of the eye healing to give him any sort of normal vision. The doctor had actually been apologetic when he told Paul that if he did regain vision in his eye, that he would probably have to wear glasses. Paul had laughed when he realized that the doctor had thought that wearing an eye patch or glasses would end his flying career. So for now he was stuck with wearing an eye patch which Faith had joked, that combined with the scars made him look even more dangerous and sexy.

The joking hadn't bothered him as he was thankful that the eye had been saved. It was with the eye patch and scars, he found that when he looked in the mirror that he could see himself looking a little like the traitor General Edwards. That bothered him more than any of his injuries or the thought of having to wear glasses.

_At least I don't have to wear a bloody metal face plate like that bastard and I haven't had any crazy delusions of grandeur recently… The doc did say that given enough time and if my eye heals enough they might be able to do corrective surgery… Not that Faith is complaining about the eye patch or scars…_

Thinking of Faith brought a smile to his face, quickly pushing away the dark memories of TR Edwards. She'd been by his bedside when he regained consciousness and she'd been glued to him while he recovered and went through rehabilitation therapy. He'd spent nearly three weeks in hospital, which felt like an eternity, before he was allowed to go back to his cabin and move around more. Faith had basically moved in with him to keep an eye on him to make sure he followed doctor's orders to rest and recover and not overdo it. It took another two weeks before he started feeling even close to back to normal. During this time he'd stayed — with Faith supervising him — involved with what was going on with the ship and the planet with Lieutenant Commander Wright and Lieutenant Hanson keeping him in the loop. Overall he was happy with the way the situation with Earth was playing out. The one major situation that concerned him was what Hanson had briefed him on about the meeting with General Coulson. Paul had — with Faith's reluctant approval — met with the General. They had immediately hit it off, developing a good working relationship with each other.

_I'm starting to look a little shabby…going to have to clean up, especially going back work_, Paul thought looking at the beard that he was growing. Finally reaching for his razor, he smirked at the scruffy image that looked back at him from the mirror rather than the normal clean cut soldier image. Despite the scars and eye patch, he looked exactly like a guy who had just come back from a couple of weeks of vacation. He was looking and feeling relaxed though he was a little tired, but rather than that being a lingering side effect of his injuries, this was more of a self-inflicted injury as a result of being with Faith.

After recuperating, he'd taken another three weeks off as leave. As he'd promised, Faith and he barely left the cabin for almost a week. After that he'd made arrangements with the US Government, through Coulson, to come down to the surface. He and Faith had taken a Cyclone and driven up and down the highways through the Rocky Mountains. The government had been most obliging in setting up an expense account with credit cards for them to use. They'd spent the days — taking turns driving — through the mountains enjoying the sights and then finding some out of the way motel or inn to stay for the night where they made long passionate love.

A freshly clean shaven Paul paused at the bathroom doorway, looking at Faith lying on her stomach on the bed watching the video monitor. She was just wearing one of his shirts and his eyes hungrily ran down her body to her exposed thighs and legs. A smile came to his face as he recalled the first time they had sex after he got out of the hospital.

His eyes went from her body back to what she was watching on the screen. He was surprised to see that she was watching the news from planet-side. The announcer was going on about the latest scientific breakthrough,

_"Thanks to engineers from the Arcadia and teams from MIT, Stanford, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and the Harbin Institute of Technology, they have successfully created the first self-sustaining fusion reactor. This historic breakthrough will have far-reaching consequences for an energy-starved planet in providing abundant low-cost energy. Representatives from OPEC have declined to comment on this breakthrough other than to say that they will be studying the long term impacts on this potential shift from reliance on oil as the main source of energy. The White House is hailing this breakthrough as a sign of what can be achieved through international cooperation…"_

"I didn't think you were that interested in the news?" Paul asked with a smile, catching her by surprise.

Faith spun on to her back to look at him, mirroring the smile he had, "Never have been much into the news, but it's been mostly good news these days, so I'm kind of interested…especially when it directly or indirectly relates to you."

Paul snorted as he moved closer to sit on the edge of the bed, his eye were back to admiring her body, "Well it was the least we could do, besides Commander Schmidt loves that sort of stuff."

Faith gave him another big smile, then turned back to finish watching. Paul's smile faded as he watched her as the news report about energy only reminded him about the major problem he and the rest of his so-called task force faced.

He was acutely aware that the Arcadia and the rest of the REF ships only had a limited supply of Protoculture. They didn't have a Protoculture matrix to make new fuels cells and eventually they would exhaust their supply and then all that fancy Robotechnology would be useless. He'd been going over that problem along with what to do with the Invid that were still confined aboard their carrier.

His options were limited and with the clock ticking against them, he knew what course of action he had to take. During his convalescence, he'd started putting together a mission plan along with requirements of what he envisioned they would need for an operation like this, working with the limited resources they had available. He'd already had Wright and Hanson working on some of the details along with making sure that all ship repairs were continuing to bring them up to combat-ready status. His next step was to discuss this plan with General Coulson to polish it off. He wanted the General's input and support before unveiling the plan to the US President and other world leaders that would be gathering in Washington in a week's time for meetings and state dinners. He needed them to sign off on the plan without delay.

The one area he was in real doubt about was how Faith would take the news that he was planning to leave for the other side of the galaxy and could be gone for up to six months. Considering how she'd torn a strip off him — after he'd recovered enough — about going on his suicide mission and leaving her, that she wouldn't be pleased would be an understatement.

The idea of asking her to come with him bounced around in his head, but he found himself conflicted. They had a good thing going on right now and he had no doubt that he loved her, but he was still trying to figure out where they were going with what they were doing. There was also the uncertainty part and the high level of risk with this mission as they had no idea what or who they would be facing when they arrived at Tirol and investigated the other major local group star systems.

He remembered after that first time being together after his recovery. They had taken it gentle and slow at first, he'd been shocked when she'd hugged him tightly with tears in her eyes afterward. That was the first time she'd told him how she felt. He'd felt an intensity from her that he was surprised to say made him feel both excited and scared. He had no doubts as he gave himself to the feeling. Since then, the time they'd spent together only seemed to deepen and intensify their relationship. They both still swore to each other that they wouldn't "domesticate" the other as they tried to take it slow as they were both unsure of where they were headed. They'd come to a sort of unspoken mutual agreement to focus only on the moment. Each of them were afraid to talk about the future as they were both unsure of what they wanted, beyond being together for the moment. Paul let out a quiet sigh as he got up, moving over to his desk, opening one of drawers.

Faith was in a happy mood — even if she was only watching the news. The last few weeks with Paul had been some of the best she'd ever had being with another person. This was actually the longest she'd ever spent with anyone outside of her mom. She still found a small part of herself waiting for things to fall apart, so they could go their separate ways. But as each day passed, she couldn't think of a single reason for her to run off and that small doubting part of her was fading. Her TV viewing was distracted as her attention shifted as Paul went over to his desk and open one of the drawers. It looked like he had something in his hand as he came back to sit on the edge of the bed next to her.

"Whatcha doing there, Mister Mysterious?" she asked somewhat curiously with a smirk on her face.

"I got you something…"

Faith's mind went into immediate panic mode as she finally saw the small jewelry box in his hand and the first thought came to mind, "NO! Tell me you're not going to do what I think you're going to do?!" she said as she sat up like she'd been jolted by a cattle prod.

Paul got a confused blank look on his face, "Huh? What're you talking about?"

"Tell me that's not a ring and that you're not going to ask me to marry you?!" she said feeling an unaccustomed panic attack coming on.

Paul's face took on a panic look at her words, "M-Marry?! I-I didn't say anything about marriage!"

"Then what the hell is in your hand?!"

"I-I just got you a gift," he said still looking panicked as he held his hand out, holding the small jewelry box.

She still gave him a wary eye, "Open it!" she ordered.

Paul felt as if he was back in the academy being inspected by the senior cadets as he slowly opened the small jewelry box, showing her the contents.

She eyed the contents, "What is it?"

"I-It's a jade pendant… I saw it when we stopped in Banff. I-I thought I would get it for you."

Her panic and fear started to subside as she looked at the pendant, "What's that on the center of it?" she asked still sounding wary.

"It's the Chinese symbol for good fortune… Honest, I just got it for you as a gift. There was no other intent," Paul said as he pulled the pendant out of the box and held it by the chain for her to see better.

Faith let out a visible sigh of relief, "You scared me there for a minute! Jewelry? You bought me jewelry?"

Paul didn't know whether to feel relieved or insulted as he let out his own sigh, "Well I thought of you when I saw it…Besides what else can I get you, I've already given you one of the most advanced weapons systems known to man," he said somewhat sheepishly.

Faith snorted as a smile came to her face, shaking her head slowly, "Okay… I'll accept this gift."

Paul let out another sigh of relief as Faith turned and he put the pendant around her neck, doing up the clasp. He sat beside her as she held the pendant in her hand studying it.

"Good fortune, huh?"

"That's what they told me," Paul said with a shrug.

Faith suddenly felt foolish and a little guilty at how she'd overreacted. She also found a part of herself wondering what she would have said if it had been a ring. She looked at the pendant again and found that she liked it.

"Thank you…I mean it," she said softly looking into Paul's face holding the pendant in her hand.

"You're welcome," he said as a smile came to his face.

She leaned in, giving him a long kiss. As she slowly pulled away she gave him another small smile as she wrapped her arms around his neck, "I liked the beard better."

**oOoOo**

Paul leaned back in the chair taking a drink. He savored feeling the smooth whiskey slide down his throat, "That's the one thing we never really got back after the First Robotech War," he said with a smirk.

"What's that?" General Coulson asked curiously.

"A really good twenty year old Scotch whiskey."

Coulson laughed, "Well I'm glad to hear that our humble planet has something worthwhile to offer you," he said with his own smirk.

Paul laughed, "So if I was to offer you a couple of Veritechs for some cases of whiskey…"

"Hell! I'll give you all of Scotland and throw in Kentucky for a couple of your fighters," Coulson said adding his own laugh.

Paul took another sip, enjoying the taste, "Thanks again for the gift."

"Anything to build some good will," Coulson said with a smile and shrug, "So, how does it feel to be back to work full-time?"

"It's strange, I haven't taken leave or vacation in years. I didn't realize what I was missing until being off these last couple of weeks and now it's hard to come back to all this," Paul replied with a small sigh.

Coulson got a knowing smile on his face as he'd been kept informed by the surveillance that they had following Paul and Faith on their road trip, "I hear you. So, why did you need to drag me up here, not that I don't mind visiting your wonderful ship?"

"Any change with the Hellmouth?" Paul asked

"It's been quiet, with no activity. The Army Corps of Engineers finished building the cap to cover and seal the site last week," Coulson replied finding the question a little strange that it required a face to face meeting.

"I would still feel better if we dropped a Reflex warhead on it as a more permanent solution."

The General found himself finding it hard not to agree with the Captain on basic principal, but the idea of detonating a nuclear weapon and wiping a town from existence hadn't gone over well in cabinet discussions from what he'd heard from his sources, "Well the President decided to go with a less…destructive solution. Again thanks to your engineers for helping to provide the building materials. From what I hear, that stuff they used it's like steel and concrete mixed together. Nothing is getting through or moving it," Couslon said with a small smile.

There was a long pause as each man sipped their drinks, studying each other. Coulson broke the silence first, "You didn't bring me all the way up here to just talk about the Hellmouth, did you?"

Paul tried not to laugh at how well the General had read his play. He decided to not dance around the subject any further, "I need to get your thoughts and support on something I'm working on."

"Does this have something to do with our Invid friends and the current supply of Protoculture?" Coulson asked with a smirk.

Paul laughed, "I take it you've been reading our supply and inventory reports?"

Coulson nodded, "Yes, I've been informed that you've been sending more salvage missions through the debris fields along with minimizing training flights for the time being."

"That's the bitch of the whole situation, we have all this knowledge and technology, but without Protoculture they're just nice shiny lawn ornaments. Plus, we can't keep the Invid contained to their ship indefinitely," Paul said as his face took on a concerned look.

"So what's your plan?"

"Are you familiar with the Pioneer Mission?"

Coulson got a thoughtful look on his face as he tried to recall all the briefing material that he'd gone through, "Yeah, if I recall correctly wasn't that the name of the operation that created the REF and sent you across the galaxy?"

Paul nodded, impressed by the General's knowledge, "Call it a form of good old gunboat diplomacy. The mission goal was to locate and contact the Robotech Masters and have a peaceful dialog and if they didn't want to play nice, then we were prepared to wage the war on their doorstep, away from Earth."

"Sounds like a good plan," Coulson said.

Paul sighed shaking his head as he recalled those early days when there had been hopes for a lasting peace to only arrive and find the Invid overrunning Tirol and the Masters nowhere to be found, "The concept was sound until it all went sideways."

Coulson studied the Captain's face, "What's really bothering you?" he asked.

Paul shrugged, "I just have a nagging feeling that something is wrong and we need to get back out there to take a look," he paused for a second as he put his thoughts together, "We know that the Invid exist in this universe. I've talked to their commander and…she says that the Invid in this universe aren't at war."

"You say that like that's a bad thing," Coulson replied.

A small smirk tugged at Paul's face, "You would think that, but what we know about the Invid is that the Regess is able to psychically communicate with all the Invid across what we know is vast distances. Some theorize that she is capable of communicating across the whole galaxy to her species."

Coulson had read the interview reports as well and he could see where Paul was going with his thought process, "You're worried over why this Invid…Tashe or any of the others aren't able to talk to the Regess."

Paul let out a small sigh as he nodded, "We've never heard of anything that could jam their communications. I've heard of theories and ideas. Our Shadow fighters employ a form of cloaking technology that blinds their sensors and hides our Protoculture power sources, but that isn't even close to what it looks like we're dealing with here."

"So that and lack of Protoculture are driving this mission?" Coulson asked.

Paul still had that nagging feeling tugging at the back of his mind about the urgency of this mission, but he didn't voice it further as he nodded, "I'm hoping to get your help on selling this plan with your government and the others."

Couslon let out a sigh as he considered what they Captain was purposing, "I don't know what kind of reception you'll get over wanting to go across the galaxy and potentially stirring up a hornet's nest. Some might say that since the SDF-1 never came here that there are no Masters…no Zentraedi…no threat, so why worry."

Paul tried not to laugh, "Don't tell me you're that closed-minded and short-sighted?" he said with a little biting sarcasm in his voice.

Coulson raised an eyebrow as he picked up on the Captain's tone, "You this disrespectful with all senior officers?" he asked shaking his head slowly.

Paul leaned forward, pouring another drink into the General's glass, "Yup, pretty much," he said as a smirk came to his face.

Coulson couldn't help himself as a smile came to his face, "You better have a pretty good plan."

"I do."

"You know they're going to want something in return for supporting this mission."

"I figured as much," replied a still smirking Paul.

Coulson took a sip of his drink, studying Paul again trying to get a bead on the Captain, "You seem pretty good at all this subterfuge and wheeling and dealing. You ever think of a career in politics?"

"Politics? God no! I'm just a simple fighter pilot thrown into extraordinary circumstances…sir," Paul said as he took a drink with a huge grin on his face.

_Bullshit_, Coulson thought looking at Paul. The General had read the dossier the intel people had put together on Captain Coleiro from the records they'd been given access to and from the surveillance reports from his time on Earth when he was traveling with the Slayer — Faith. Coulson had heard that the surveillance report entries outlining the more 'physical activities' between the Captain and the Slayer were extremely popular reading. One rumor going around was that there was a surveillance video which was described as extremely graphic and hot. From his own dealings with the Captain, Coulson had already come to his own conclusions and estimations of him. He'd learned not to underestimate the Captain and that he was an aggressive leader that took risks — that usually paid off. From studying his extensive combat record, Coulson recognized that Paul was a capable combat leader, having survived many battles, that made him good and lucky which were dangerous combinations when mixed with intelligence.

_All that and with good looks and charisma to boot…makes one hell of person. No wonder the media is begging for interviews with him_, Coulson thought as he considered what to do next. It didn't take the General long to come to a decision as he realized that the Captain had a better understanding of the bigger galactic picture and whether Earth was ready or not, they were now being pulled into it.

The General also saw an opportunity to extract something in return from the Captain. The White House had been constantly hounding him to have the Captain meet with the press and do interviews. There was still a large segment of the population that was still unsure of what the intentions of these "visitors" were towards the planet and that created a lot of nervous and uncertain people. To help deal with this and alleviate fears, the White House had been "requesting" the Captain to hold a press conference and do interviews ever since he'd gotten out of hospital. So far, Paul had managed to rebuff or avoid these requests getting his subordinates to issue press releases and statements while he was on leave.

"Okay, I'll take a look at your plan, but I need something from you first," Coulson said trying to suppress a sly grin knowing that he could finally get the White House off his back — at least on this issue.

Paul let out a sigh as he read Coulson's face. He'd figure that he'd be owing the General, but he'd hoped it wouldn't be collected on so soon. He nodded his head while trying not to laugh at how he'd been out maneuvered, at least on this round.

"Okay, tell me more of your plan," Coulson said feeling a sense of triumph at having won this round.

**oOoOo**

As Coulson rode back down to the surface on one of the Arcadia's shuttles, he barely took note of how traveling into space had become common place for him after only just a few short weeks. His main focus was on the tablet as he scrolled through the mission plan specifics and logistics that Paul had presented to him.

Coulson saw that the Captain proposed to take the Arcadia and four light cruisers along with the Invid carrier and make a careful reconnaissance of the planetary systems in the local group to determine if the Robotech Masters did exist in this universe and what threat they posed to Earth and humanity. All measures would be taken to maintain stealth and extra precautions would be taken to wipe any reference of Earth along with jump co-ordinates from the databases if the expedition was in danger of being compromised. Coulson was surprised that the Captain had asked to include Earth forces in this mission to round out his forces. He looked over what he was requesting and was still shaking his head over the Captain's audacity.

He couldn't imagine the Joint Chiefs just handing over nearly six thousand troops along with providing the necessary number of pilots to fill the slots in the task force's fighter defense as that would impact the US's defense posture and he'd told Paul that fact straight out. He was caught off-guard — again — as Paul had given him small smile as he outlined how he wanted to open up the spots to any country willing to provide forces on the proviso that they would operate under his command as task force commander and the yet to be selected ground force commander.

Coulson wasn't sure how the request was going to go over, but that he'd gotten Paul to do some media interviews when he was planet-side would certainly help smooth the ground when he made his presentation. Coulson had a sudden realization that he wasn't going to discuss the plan with his own superiors until after Paul had made his pitch. He knew he should be showing this plan to his superiors as soon as he landed, but he wasn't going to and he found himself trying to understand this change in behavior as it flew against every oath he'd taken. It was strange, but the Captain had simply asked him for his opinion and feedback on the operation and that he just hold off disclosing the plan until he had a chance to present it. Coulson found it quite startling that he found himself trusting the Captain and that the trust and respect was returned.

_He's one smooth operator… I almost feel sorry for the press_, Coulson thought laughing to himself as he continued to review logistic information and mission plans. His thoughts shifted again. Paul had asked for one more favor after he'd presented his plan. Coulson again tried not to laugh as he hadn't expected this request, but in retrospect it wasn't that surprising. He hadn't made any promises about getting the favor done, but Paul had dangled the prospect of allowing press tours of the Arcadia and "lending" the US military several fully-equipped Cyclones and possible close-up inspection and testing of one of the enormous and powerful Destroids they had aboard in exchange for his request.

_I know Generals that would give up their first-born for a chance like this… I just don't know how the FBI, Justice Department, Attorney General and the President will react to what he's asking?_ Coulson thought as he moved further on into the mission plans.


	42. You know it's bad when

**CHAPTER FORTY-TWO:**

**You know it's bad when…**

"_…It was just after the announcement by the Captain {Coleiro} that the Arcadia would be going back to the Local Group. I remember hearing one of the crewmen grumbling about this and mutter that they should just drop all the ships in the sun with all the protoculture, as losing it would be the best thing to happen as it {protoculture} had brought nothing but pain and suffering to the human race. At the time I couldn't believe that kind of crazy talk. I can't believe how naïve I was…_"

— Xander Harris

**oOoOo**

Paul found it strange and a little surreal as he boarded the Invid ship. He could have done this via the communication setup they had put in place, but he felt that it was important to finally meet the Invid commander face to face. He'd announced to all the REF personnel — and guests — that they would be going back to the Local Group in a few weeks' time. Granted he still needed to present his plan to the earth-side governments to get their support along with the extra resources, but he felt he needed to inform his people first of what was going to happen. He'd heard some grumbling from the crew and he sympathized with them. He wished he could just turn his back on it all, but there was still that nagging feeling in his head — like an itch that couldn't be scratched — that they needed to go back to that section of the galaxy. Plus then there was what to do with the Invid that hung over him and the rest of the fleet. It would have been easier if they had fought to the death, but they had surrendered and they had kept their place since then.

The added bonus of going over to the Mollusk was that he was off ship with some distance between him and Faith. He'd had tried to prepare himself for her reaction, but that she hadn't taken the announcement well was a bit of an understatement. He'd taken the opportunity to shuttle over to the Invid ship to let Faith cool off before he would attempt to talk to her again.

_You know things are bad, when visiting the Invid is the safer place to be_, he thought grimly as he made his way to the command deck of the carrier.

_At least she waited until we were in private_, he thought as he replayed the argument they had, over in his head.

He had tried to explain, but she was angry at him for not discussing it with her before making the announcement or at least giving her a heads up warning about it first. _"This is just like your suicide run against the Invid all over again! Did you ever consider how this would affect me…us?"_ she had said angrily, throwing it in his face. He found himself unable to answer her as he found that she had a point. He'd never been one for communicating well to those closest to him. His long strewn trail of one-night affairs and casual hook ups was ample evidence to that fact. Sonia had been one of the few to see that and it had taken a lot of desire and hard work on her part to get through to him and open up. With Faith it had been different, things just seemed to click — or at least it seemed that way.

The strange thing was that he hadn't gotten upset or angry at her comments. She had called him selfish and self-centered. Paul tried to recall how many times he'd been called that by other women. It wasn't that he was proud of it. It was just who he was. Always living on edge and pushing it, not knowing if the next mission you were going on was to be the one you died on. That gives a person a sense of clarity, an understanding of who you were. You had to know yourself and how far you could go and push yourself if you were going to survive for the next mission. For years he'd pushed all his feelings behind a wall, using alcohol and a form self-imposed emotional exile to numb himself to cope with everything and avoid the pain of loss. Some may have called that denial, he called it a form of coping to remain mission-capable. Whatever the label, Sonia's death just reinforced that fact at the time and he was prepared to be alone until he got the Viking funeral he'd always wanted.

Being with Faith these last few weeks, made him feel alive again and he was finally realizing that there was more. It wasn't just the sex, it was connecting with another person and being intimate with them. For the first time, in a long time, he felt alive and felt a part of something. This mission though wasn't some spur of the moment or glory seeking quest. He could just turn his back on his duty and oath, the Protoculture would run out and life would continue on. He didn't need to take the Invid home, he could just let them go home by themselves. He could say to hell with everything as he finally found someone that he could give it all up for, but there was something else going on with him that he found hard to explain and couldn't begin to describe with words. He didn't want to go across the galaxy…he _had_ to go. As sure as he knew that he loved and wanted to be with Faith, he felt something pulling…calling to him now.

Paul pushed away those thoughts as he entered the carrier's command deck as he needed to focus on the immediate situation and his discussions with the Invid commander.

**oOoOo**

Buffy was surprised when she came out of the bathroom to find Dawn sitting on the edge of her bed. It bothered her sometimes that she could hear any demon or vampire stalking her, but her sister could sometimes slip into her room unnoticed.

"Hey," Buffy said with a smile meeting her sister's face.

Buffy kept talking as she went over to the dresser to go through it. She'd started packing to go back down to the planet ever since Paul had made the announcement to the crew about their next mission. She knew that the ship wasn't leaving right away, but they'd been onboard the Arcadia for over two months now and the novelty had worn off long ago for her. Buffy wanted to feel the sun and wind on her face again as knowing that she was breathing constantly recycled air didn't feel right to her. She'd talked to Giles about where they would go once they got back down to the surface as Sunnydale was off-limits and even if she could go there, the house was gone from what Riley had told her.

"You pack yet?" Buffy asked as she went through the drawers.

"About that…" Dawn started to say.

Buffy stopped in mid-action, turning to face her sister. She'd picked up on the tone in her sister's voice and could feel a huge "but" coming at her, "What's wrong?"

"B-Buffy…I'm not going with you and the others back down to the surface."

"What're you talking about? Of course you're coming down. You can't stay here. This ship and everyone aboard is going to be traveling across the galaxy in a few weeks' time," Buffy said as she started getting a bad feeling in her stomach.

"I-I'm staying here…I'm going with Aaron and the ship."

The words were barely out of Dawn's mouth before Buffy shouted back her reply, "NO!"

"Buffy—"

"Don't Buffy me! You're not going with them!"

"I am…"

"You're going to travel across the galaxy for him! You've only known each for a few weeks! He's younger than I am damn it! You can't go! I won't let you!" Buffy shouted trying to keep some semblance of control, wishing that Giles was here to help her with this situation spiraling out of control on her.

"I love Aaron and he loves me… If it makes you feel better, he tried to talk me into staying and waiting for him."

"No, that doesn't make me feel better. You can wait here for him. You're both young and it's not like you're serious and have slept together…"

Dawn suddenly broke eye contact with Buffy, looking uncomfortably around the room. Buffy felt a surreal moment as she realized what had occurred. She felt as if she'd been punched in the stomach, "Y-You…you and Aaron…y-you have ummm…"

Dawn nodded still showing her discomfort talking about her love life with her older sister.

Buffy found she couldn't keep her cool anymore, "DAMN IT! YOU'RE TOO YOUNG!"

Dawn took a deep breath as she was scared over the whole situation, but she was sure of her decision that she wanted to be with Aaron no matter what happened, "Buffy… It's not like we're getting married right now. We're going to wait."

"Oh, I'm so glad you decided to draw a line on waiting for something," Buffy said with a biting sarcastic tone, "I don't care that you've decided to have… God! I can't even say it! Mom would never let you go if she was here!"

"But she's not and I can make my own decisions."

"No you can't…you're only seventeen years old. What can you know?" Buffy said trying to reason with her younger sister.

"Buffy… I joined the REF."

"YOU WHAT?!"

"For the last couple of weeks, I've been studying and learning their communication systems…I heard that a number of the Potentials asked about joining to become pilots… I signed the recruitment papers and was sworn in an hour ago."

Buffy felt as if she was in a waking nightmare. She felt her legs go weak as the room started to spin. She managed to sit on the edge of the bed to gather herself as she tried to process what Dawn had told her, "You can't join…you're too young. They can't let you join without an adult's permission. They can't…" she said in a hushed voice.

"The join up age for the REF is sixteen…I don't need your permission."

"You can't go…I don't want you to go," Buffy said still in a hushed voice as the reality of Dawn's decision hit her hard.

"Buffy…I want to do this. This is what I want to do. I've always been in your shadow and I was always confused and unsure of what I wanted to do in the future. This I am sure of… I want this and I love Aaron. It's not like I'm not used to living in danger or the threat of death. I could die as easily down there as I could across the galaxy."

"I won't be there to protect you," Buffy said in a quiet anguished-filled voice as the image of the dead female crewman, still at her station exposed to space, replayed through her head.

"I know, but it's my life and my choice," Dawn said quietly, but firmly as she looked at her sister. After a long moment, she moved closer, putting her arm around her sister to hug her.

**oOoOo**

"You sure about this?"

Xander smiled at Cassie, "I've never been so sure about something in my whole life."

"The Captain said we would only be gone for a few months, you could stay on Earth…with your friends."

Xander took Cassie's hand in his, "I would be lying if I didn't say I wasn't nervous and scared about the idea of traveling across the galaxy into the unknown, besides I've seen a lot of strange stuff living in Sunnydale…time to broaden my horizons."

Cassie snorted, "You're a nut."

"But I'm you're nut…and you're stuck with me," Xander said pulling Cassie closer to him, putting his arms around her.

"I guess I'll have to put up with you," Cassie said feigning an exasperated sigh, but the smile on her face showed nothing but happiness as she leaned in, giving him a long kiss.

Xander couldn't believe how his life had changed in the last few weeks. Before all this he was happy — relatively speaking considering where he lived — and content with how his life was going. If it hadn't been for The First, Caleb, Uber-vampires, losing an eye and facing a potentially earth-ending event, things were pretty good. Now things were better. He was living and working aboard a spaceship, he was working on actual fighter jets and he had a smart sexy girlfriend that was a fighter pilot. Best of all was that the doctors were going to be fitting him with a prosthetic eye next week and he wouldn't have to wear an eye patch anymore.

Finally ending the kiss, Cassie gave Xander a look, "How do you think Buffy and the others will take your decision to join the REF and go with us?"

He let out a small sigh as he hadn't really wanted to think about telling Buffy, Willow and the others that he wouldn't be going home with them. They were closer to him than his family had ever been. He had to be honest that he felt a pain in his heart and soul at the thought of leaving them as he went out into the galaxy.

_To boldly go_, he thought as he looked into Cassie's eyes, smiling as he saw his future with her.

"She'll understand…they'll understand," Xander said softly.

_I hope they'll understand_, he thought.

**oOoOo**

Buffy was sitting in the cafeteria staring off into space. She found that she didn't have an appetite.

_I don't know which is worse, knowing my baby sister is leaving or that she's having sex…_

She decided that they were both equally bad as she tried to push away images from mind.

"I'm sure that she'll be fine," a voice said causing Buffy to snap back to the moment.

Buffy let out a sigh as she looked at Willow. Buffy could see her friend's red eyes and knew that she'd been crying. Her friend's face mirrored hers as Kennedy had told her that she was joining the REF and going with them on their expedition to the far corner of the galaxy.

"Maybe I should talk to the Captain? You know get him to not take Dawn." Buffy mused out loud.

Willow shook her head slowly, "You know if you do that she'll hate you."

"Will, she's only seventeen…she's too young for this."

"That may be, but she's also in love," Willow replied with a sigh as her mind was distracted with her own problems, "Did you talk to Giles?"

Buffy let out her own exasperated sigh, "She out flanked me there. She went to Giles before I got to him. He tried to talk her out of it, but she managed to somehow convince him that this was a good thing for her."

Willow arched an eyebrow in surprise at this news, "I can't imagine how she did that?"

"Evidently she took Aaron with her and they all had a sit down talk and as Giles put it, 'he was impressed by the young man'," Buffy said again with a frustrated sigh.

"I'm surprised that she didn't try that with you?"

"She knows me too well…bringing her boyfriend to tell me that she's leaving home and that they're having sex wouldn't be the smartest move."

Willow couldn't help herself as a smile came to her face as she pictured what that conversation would be like, "You would at least give Aaron a running head start…wouldn't you?"

Buffy couldn't help herself as a smile appeared on her face, "Yeah…it would only be fair to the guy."

"Who else do you think won't be coming back home with us?" Willow asked.

Buffy sighed as she went over the names in her head of those that had already declared their intentions to stay aboard the Arcadia, "If Dawn is staying then I think we can safely assume that Faith, Anya and Xander will be staying too."

Willow nodded. She'd been trying to not think about her oldest and closest friend leaving as well. It was hard enough having to deal with Kennedy leaving, but the thought of Xander going as well was just unthinkable. She let out a deep sigh trying to push that thought away, "I think Andrew might be staying. He's been spending a lot of time in Engineering."

"I don't know…I heard he threw-up when he tried out the zero-gravity training simulation," Buffy said with a small smile.

"You're kidding?" Willow said as a small smile also came to her face.

Buffy's smile got bigger at seeing her friend perk up at hearing of Andrew's sufferings, "No, it was a huge mess from what I heard."

Willow couldn't help herself as her smile got bigger.

Both women were brought back to their previous thoughts as a voice spoke out.

"Hey…"

Buffy and Willow turned to see Xander standing, looking nervous and fidgety with his hands in his pockets.

"Can I join you?" he asked.

Buffy and Willow looked at each other and they both knew what was going to happen as Xander had never been one to ask for permission to join them. They nodded offering him the seat at the end of the table. He took the seat nervously, going over in his head again the words that he'd rehearsed to tell his two best friends that he was leaving.

"I-I just wanted to say…" he started to say.

Willow didn't let him finish, "You're staying on the ship with Cassie and going with them."

Xander was shocked, finding himself unable to respond. After a long moment he managed to spurt out the words, "H-How did you know?"

It was Buffy that answered this question, "Dawn is staying on the Arcadia… If she's staying we figured you would be too."

Xander's eyes went wide in shock as he hadn't expected this scenario when he had rehearsed his speech. "D-Dawn? Little Dawnie is staying aboard?" he managed to say as the realization hit him.

A wistful smile appeared on Buffy's face at seeing Xander's surprise, "Yeah…it appears that she and Lieutenant Hanson are a little bit more serious than we thought."

"Dawn and Lieutenant Hanson? We're talking about the same Dawn here, aren't we?" Xander said shaking his head.

Buffy sighed, "Yeah…the biggest surprise is that my baby sister has gone and joined the REF."

Xander's eyes went wide in shock, "S-She joined the REF? H-How? W-Why?"

"Because like you she wants to be with the person she loves," Willow replied.

Xander didn't know what to think or say at this news, "I-I… I don't know what to say. I-I'm sorry," he managed to say.

"Xander, you have nothing to be sorry about. At least you'll be around to keep an eye on her and keep her out trouble," Buffy said with another deep sigh.

"You know I'll always take care of her," Xander promised as he still wrestled with this news. He'd heard about some of the Potentials joining the REF, but he now found himself also wondering about who would be staying aboard or going back home.

**oOoOo**

Paul immediately checked the far corner table as he entered the lounge. He let out a small self-satisfied snort at seeing Faith sitting at the table. He had returned from his meeting with the Invid commander aboard her ship. It had been a productive, yet a strange, meeting. For some strange reason, he could have sworn that he'd met or talked to this Invid before, but he knew that was impossible as he outlined his plan and objectives for the mission to return to the Local Group.

Tashe had been most accommodating and co-operative which still surprised Paul considering she was an Invid as he found that a part of him still expected her to try and kill him. He had expressed his concern about the Invid pilots and mecha still aboard her carrier. She had reassured him that they were of no threat as she had managed to put them all into a form of hibernation sleep for the time being. The mecha pilots would be able to live off the nutrients in their ships for several more months before they would have to be wakened. Only her and her ship's crew were the only Invid awake for the time being, though she did express her concern along with the urgency of returning to Optera.

Paul, surprisingly, found himself sympathizing with the Invid commander giving her his reassurances and promise that he would get her and her people home, but that they had to be careful and take precautions. He found himself venturing into unknown territory when he asked Tashe, that if the situation presented itself, would the Invid pilots fight to defend not only their carrier, but the rest of the fleet. He was surprised when she told him that the Invid would do what was needed.

He returned to the Arcadia filled with a mixed sense of perplexed optimism, feeling that the Invid would probably be the least of his worries for his upcoming mission. He had stopped by his cabin, finding that Faith wasn't there. Considering how they had ended their last conversation, he figured that he had two options. One…he could just put it behind him and wait till she came around. Or… Two…find her and talk to her and try and work things out. There was a small part of him that wanted to take the easy route and go with option one, but then he had never done things the easy way.

He tried to figure out where she could have gone as it wasn't like he could call up ship's security to scour the ship for his girlfriend. Even being Captain, it didn't look good or set a good example having to use ship's personnel and resources to help fix your love life. He still heard the stories going around about the handcuff incident.

_If I was Faith and I was pissed off with myself…where would I go?_

It took him only a moment to realize where she probably was and he set off to find her.

Now, as he approached her sitting at the table, seeing the look on her face and the way she was staring into her drink. He began to feel some doubts about his strategy, but he knew it was too late as she raised her head, making eye contact with him.

_I guess it wouldn't look too good or heroic if I turned around and ran out of the room…_

"Can I join you?" he asked feeling decidedly more nervous about this meeting than his previous one with the Invid.

"It's your ship," Faith said with a shrug as she took a sip from her drink.

_Ouch!_

"Okay, I deserve that," Paul said pulling out a chair and sitting down at the table.

They both sat there for a long moment in silence. Paul could see that she wasn't going to give him an inch. He let out a deep sigh, catching her eye. He took another moment trying to work out in his head what he wanted to say. He found that it felt like he was in combat, dueling in the sky trying to get the best position to open up for the kill. It was in that moment as he tried to pick the best words to say, that would give him the advantage and victory that he realized he was looking at it all wrong.

_It couldn't be that easy…could it?_

"I'm sorry," he said as he decided to try a different approach.

Faith looked at him for a long moment as if she was studying him, "What're you sorry about?" she asked.

He'd picked up on the tone in her voice, "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you or talk to you first about the mission…" he said deftly avoiding the trap.

"And?" she said as the angry look on her face softened a bit

"I'm sorry for being a complete insensitive idiot," he said as a small smile appeared on his face.

"I'm still mad at you," she said, but Paul could see the anger leaving her face, but he tell that she was still not happy about the situation.

"I know. Can we talk?"

"What's there to talk about? You're still going…aren't you?" Faith said with some bitterness in her voice.

Paul sighed, "Yes, but we have to do this. We have to see what, if any threats there are to Earth. I swore an oath to protect Earth and her people. Okay, granted this isn't my Earth, but the job details and description are still the same."

Faith grimaced at his response.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"What about us? What happens to us?" she asked.

"Nothing changes about how I feel for you. I still love you. It's going to take weeks before we're even ready to head out. We'll make a quick space fold, check out the old neighborhood see what we find, drop off the Invid, find the Flower, work out an agreement to get a supply and then come back. We'll be gone maybe six months at most."

"You're not helping," Faith said grimacing again, shaking her head slowly.

"What's really wrong?" he asked as he figured out that something more was bothering her.

Faith let out a deep sigh, "What happens if you never come back? I-I've never been this serious with anyone before. I-I'm afraid…this is all new to me."

Paul took a moment to consider what she said, "You can come with me," he said.

Faith's eyes went wide in surprise as this was the last thing that she had expected him to say. Even though she hadn't really expected this, after hearing about who from the Sunnydale gang was staying aboard, she had toyed and played with the idea of staying herself and going with Paul. She found a part of her wanting to say yes, but there was a big part of her — the Slayer part of her — telling her that she had to stay. She thought that maybe she could put that part behind her to go with him. That had changed when she'd heard from Giles of all the people that were staying aboard the Arcadia. She had been honestly shocked when she heard who was staying. Realizing that Buffy was going back down to the planet with fewer people to help her, she knew where she had to be even though it tore at her. Buffy and she had their differences and she realized that they would probably never be friends in any real sense of the word, but they still had _their_ mission to perform. The importance of that mission had never diminished.

"I-I want to… I really want too…"

Paul sighed as he heard the tone in her voice and immediately understood, "But you can't."

Faith just nodded as she couldn't trust her voice. She looked into his eye feeling her heart breaking.

He saw the look on her face and even though he understood, didn't make it any easier to live with. He knew that he would be back, but then he also knew that there was also a risk and chance that he wouldn't make it back. This wasn't like he was crossing the street, they were going to be traveling across the galaxy into the unknown. In that moment as he looked into her eyes, seeing the love and sadness in them, he did something he'd never done before. He made a promise to himself that he would return to her. He didn't want a Viking funeral anymore, he wanted to live to spend the rest of his life with this woman. He felt the burning intensity growing inside him, swearing that he would do anything to return to her and keeping her safe from the threats out there. He debated briefly about telling her about this promise, but he knew that she'd been lied to and deceived too many times by promises that others couldn't keep. He didn't say anything about his new oath as he reached out, taking her hand in his.

"Like I said, we're not planning to leave for weeks. We still have that time and we also still have tonight," he said as a small sad smile formed on his face.

"Then we better not waste them," Faith said mirroring his smile as she squeezed his hand, not wanting to let it go.


	43. You can't handle the truth…

**CHAPTER FORTY-THREE:**

**You can't handle the truth…**

"_…With all the stories surrounding him, what some people forget is that Paul Coleiro was not only a great fighter pilot, but a brilliant soldier as well. If he hadn't accumulated so many demerits, for his behavior and indiscretions, he would have been valedictorian of his graduating class at the academy. Even then there was a petition pushed by some of the academy students (mostly female) for Paul to still be selected valedictorian. That was the type of effect he had on people. Some people thought of him as a younger version of Jonathan Wolfe. They always saw the brash, headstrong, arrogant, lady's man that he seemed to always present, but what people failed to realize was that he used it to get the advantage and position on them. To Paul it was always a combat situation…trying to get in the optimum position and have the advantage. It was only the people closest to him where he showed his true face. Those that underestimated him usually ended up on the losing end…_"

— Rachel Larson

**oOoOo**

"SON OF A BITCH!"

The door to General Coulson's office had barely closed before he shouted the obscenity, causing Paul to arch an eyebrow in surprise, getting a slightly amused look on his face.

"Anything wrong?" Paul asked as he sat relaxing on a sofa against the office wall.

"Those sneaky bastards!" Coulson said in a slightly calmer voice this time.

Paul studied the General as he had an idea as to what was bothering him, "I'll repeat the question. Is there anything wrong?"

Coulson took a deep breath to get his emotions under control as it didn't look good for a General to lose his cool in front of the troops, "I just found out that I've been selected to command the ground component for your little expeditionary force."

"You make that sound like a bad thing?" Paul said, again arching his eyebrow, keeping the amused look on his face.

It took a moment for the tone in the Captain's voice to sink in and for Coulson to see the look on the other man's face for him to realize what was going on, "Don't tell me you're behind this?!"

"Guilty as charged," Paul said shrugging with a sheepish look on his face. He could see the confused look on the General's face, "Your Joint Chiefs provided me a list of candidates to be my ground force commander and after looking over the list and the files of each officer… I asked for you."

"Why? You know what's going on around here and what I'm involved with. Plus I would think that there were more qualified candidates with the experience in commanding these types of formations."

"Oh, there are probably better candidates," Paul said with an evil grin, taking satisfaction at seeing Coulson shake his head at the verbal jab, "But I asked for you because I know from your background that you've dealt with things and situations that are not considered normal. I need that experience where we are going. We will be encountering alien species and I need to know and trust that my ground force and deputy commander will keep his head and won't panic, shooting first when talking is needed."

"I need to stay where I am. If things get worse— Wait! You said deputy commander?"

Paul's evil grin turned into a smile, "I need a number two in our task force TOE and I thought that the offer might help convince you to take the job…" his smile faded as his face took on a more serious look now, "I understand where you're coming from, but we're going to the other side of the galaxy, facing god knows what and the last thing I need to be doing is looking over my shoulder wondering who I can trust and if anyone is going to try and sabotage us. I need someone I can trust to oversee the forces we are adding to our little fleet."

Coulson's face took on a more contemplative look as he considered the "job offer". Moving over to his desk, he sat down, "I don't know… I got to admit, the thought of going across the galaxy excites and scares the hell out of me at the same time. I'm still not entirely convinced that it's a good idea for me to go, especially at this time."

Paul grimaced as he took another stab to convince the General, "You need to think bigger picture here now…what happens out there will now impact back here. We're only going to be gone for a few months and if other side tries anything, we'll still have a force to respond with to anything that they do."

Coulson took another long moment before responding, "It's going to be kind of funny that a General is reporting to a mere Captain in the chain of command," he said as a smile broke across his face, shaking his head slowly.

Paul's smile returned, "I'll promote myself to Grand Admiral tomorrow if that will make you feel better."

"No… I think we would want to keep your delusions of grandeur in check," Coulson said with a chuckle, "So when do I start my new job?"

"You already have," Paul said standing up from the sofa, handing a tablet over to Coulson. The General didn't waste any time as he started swiping at the tablet bringing up data files of information, "You have complete control and final say over all ground forces in the task force…you pick who you want to bring along. Just one thing I want to mention about your new job," Paul added.

Coulson arched an eyebrow in slight surprise at hearing how much latitude he was going to have, "What?"

"At least try and keep me in the loop about what you're doing. I'm quite familiar with subordinates not keeping the higher ranks informed," Paul said with a grin on his face.

"Smart-ass!" Coulson snorted, "All ground forces? Does this mean, that I get to incorporate those Destroids aboard the Arcadia into my force?"

Paul laughed as he saw the gleam in the General's eyes, "You get access to everything, though you may want to bring up some of your tanks, APCs and anything else you can think of as we're a little short on ground vehicles."

Coulson's mind was a whirlwind of thoughts as he started thinking of what forces he would need, taking into consideration how much lift-capability the Arcadia and other ships had. His thoughts quickly shifted to other topics.

"Oh…by the way," Coulson said reaching into his desk drawer, pulling out a plain-looking envelope, "The President and Attorney General signed off on your request."

Paul took the envelope, opening it carefully, pulling out and reading the documents inside, "Thanks, this means a lot," he said carefully putting the contents back in.

"She means a lot to you, doesn't she?"

Paul snorted, "Yeah…she's important to me."

"She's not coming with us?"

"No, she's staying here. She still has her mission."

Coulson took moment to think, giving Paul a hard serious look, "Is her staying behind going to be a problem for our mission?"

Paul didn't hesitate with his response, "No…it won't be a problem," seeing the skeptical look he got, he sought to allay his deputy commander's worries, "We do this mission and come home…after that I'm done. You and everyone else can do what you want with all the new fancy stuff we've given you. Faith and I are taking a couple of Cyclones and driving off into the sunset."

Coulson snorted, "I never pictured you as the romantic type."

Paul laughed, "Is this the type of insubordination that I'm going to have to put up with from now on?"

"Pretty much," Coulson replied adding his own laugh.

Paul shook his head still smiling, "Well General, I will make my exit as I have another appointment I must attend to before taking the shuttle back up."

"Where're you off to now or is that top secret?"

"No big secret, I have to do an interview with one of your distinguished members of the press. That was one of the terms that you wanted for this…" Paul said holding up the envelope, "You know, have the spaceman appear on TV, so that the civilians don't panic."

Coulson rolled his eyes, "Please watch what you say, we don't need a PR disaster right now," he said suddenly getting a worried feeling.

"Moi? Say something wrong? I promise I'll behave myself in front of the press," Paul said in a slight mocking tone as he came to attention, giving the General a crisp salute.

Coulson returned the salute, watching as Paul left the office. Among the many thoughts that now occupied his mind, he found himself wondering if he should have gone to the interview with Paul to act as a buffer.

_The Pentagon would have assigned a media liaison officer to make sure things go smoothly… It'll be alright_, he thought trying to put his concerns to rest. He had never been fond of the press as they tended to not respect the discipline that the military had to work under and they tended to ask questions that shouldn't be asked in public. The image of Paul being interviewed suddenly formed in his head, causing him to shake his head as he made a mental note to get a copy of the interview for later viewing. He suddenly wondered who he should feel sorrier for… Paul or the person interviewing him.

**oOoOo**

Emma Michaels took a deep breath as she waited for the subject of her interview to arrive. She tried to keep her nervousness in check as this was her chance that could make her broadcast news career go to great heights or sending it crashing and burning. She was still surprised that she'd gotten this opportunity to interview what was considered the interview of a lifetime. She'd heard that there had been a line-up of news anchors and correspondents crawling over each other for the opportunity to be the first to interview Captain Paul Coleiro.

Like everyone else on the planet, Emma had been shocked and scared by the arrival of the Arcadia and the ensuing battle around the planet. She had been one of the few news reporters that kept her composure clear and calm while doing her reporting, refusing to give into the panic at the time. This had quickly brought her to the attention of the senior network brass and immediately opened new doors for her career. Again her reporting skills came to the forefront, when the White House made the announcement that the Arcadia would be leading an expedition to travel across the galaxy to — as the press release worded it — open dialog with any alien species encountered. She had asked critical questions of the White House and military spokespersons, showing herself to be open-minded yet demanding in answers to her questions.

When the White House made it known that the Captain Coleiro would be making himself available for interviews, she'd had dived into researching every little bit of information she could find related to him. She'd called in every favor that was owed to her trying to get any information on the Captain, the Arcadia and the REF. When she'd thought that she'd had enough material, she'd gone to the VP of broadcast news to sell him on her interview pitch. She knew that this was the make or break point of her career and sweated it out as the VP considered her proposal. He'd given her the go ahead as he saw not only an attractive woman, but also a reporter that knew how to use both her looks and mind to get to the story. It hadn't taken long after getting his approval that an interview was scheduled.

Emma was now feeling anxious as she got word that Captain Coleiro had entered the building. While she waited, her mind went over the details and questions she wanted to bring up in her interview. She'd managed to scoop some background information on the Captain. He wasn't the Arcadia's original commanding officer, but was in fact one of her fighter squadron commanders. He had been the most senior officer to survive — what they were calling — the transition event that brought them here. Apparently the Captain was considered a sort of living legend among the REF, but also had quite the reputation. She hadn't been overly surprised or impressed to hear this. She'd had experience dealing with military-types before and it seemed that their main preoccupations besides trying to obfuscate the truth and looking down at a female reporters were trying to get into her pants.

A small smirk formed on her face as she'd recalled interviewing military pilots before. They thought they were the ultimate with the swagger and arrogance that they projected. She could almost see this Captain Coleiro being no different, even if he was from an alternate universe. Using all her sources and calling in almost all her favors, she'd managed to pry some juicy details about the Captain. Her smirk grew as the White House was portraying the Captain as if he was some sort of dashing heroic character from a movie. She planned to cut through all the PR bullshit and show the world the real Captain Coleiro.

**oOoOo**

Sipping on her coffee, Faith was finding that she was a mix of nervous and excited as she waited for Paul's interview to come on the video display in the corner of the cafeteria. She didn't know why she was feeling this way, but she was getting a kick out of seeing Paul on TV. Her attention was diverted from her waiting as a group approached her table.

"Did it start yet?" Willow asked as her eyes glanced towards the display that was currently playing a commercial.

"No, but it should be on after these commercials," Faith said gesturing to the empty seats at the table for the group to sit down at. She watched as Willow quickly took a seat. She was caught a little off-guard when Giles held out a chair for Chief Larson, who smiled and thanked him, before taking a seat himself.

"You don't mind if Lt. Commander Wright joins us?" Buffy asked in a matter-of-fact way.

Faith nodded, trying not to laugh at Buffy's nonchalance as she wasn't fooled. She'd seen Buffy and the Lt. Commander making quite a bit of time together in the cafeteria and corridors over the last couple of weeks. She figured that he was the probably the main reason that Buffy had decided to stay aboard the Arcadia these last few weeks after Dawn had announced that she had joined the REF and was going with the ship on its mission. She watched with some amusement as Buffy and the Commander exchanged glances as they took seats at the table as well.

"Oh it's starting," Willow said with some excitement drawing everyone's attention to the video display.

Faith pushed any thoughts of what Buffy and the pretty good-looking Commander were doing behind closed doors away as the opening credits for the interview started to roll. As the interviewer introduced herself and Paul and gave some background on the Arcadia's story, she couldn't help it as she found herself looking at the good-looking, well-spoken and apparently well-educated blonde news reporter and found herself evaluating her as potential competition.

**oOoOo**

Emma had to admit that Captain Coleiro wasn't what she'd expected when she was introduced to him. The introductions had been handled by some Pentagon PR drone and it had started as she had expected it, until they shook hands. She was caught off-guard when he'd given her a firm handshake. In her past experiences, when she interviewed military men and most government officials, they tended to give her a weak handshake as to not hurt the pretty blonde news reporter. She hated when she was treated with disdain and not taken seriously. With the Captain it was different, when they shook hands, she'd been surprised and found herself lingering with the handshake just a little bit longer than normal as she studied his face.

He had that obvious fighter jock brashness and arrogance, but she also saw something else in there that she couldn't put her finger on. She had to admit that he did cut quite the dashing figure in his uniform and that the scar and eye patch made him look all that more mysterious and dangerous. She actually found herself having to focus extra hard whenever she made eye contact with him. She'd never seen an eye or eyes look that dark before. It was as if he had seen so much and had to carry a burden that was his alone to carry.

She started the interview with some basic background questions to develop a rapport with the Captain and look for some more follow up areas to explore and dig for more information. She then threw in a couple of softball questions — asking him what he thought about this Earth and comparing it to his universe — to lull him into a false sense of security before dropping the hard questions on him.

"So Captain, you seem to be making an easy adjustment to the situation you have found yourself in?"

"I wouldn't call it easy, but on the whole I would say that it has gone pretty smoothly. Being in the military as long as I have and the places I've been too, this isn't too bad. I've been in worse places," Paul said with smile.

"Yes, I'm sure you have…" Emma got a twinkle in her eye as she readied to lower the hammer on the Captain, "I want to talk about when the Arcadia first arrived here…" she watched the Captain's face for any reaction and was a little surprised that he didn't show any.

"Go ahead."

"The United States had a country-wide blackout of communications and radar…at the time there were also reports of objects entering the atmosphere over the country. Was the Arcadia responsible for this event?"

"Yes, we were… I was the one responsible for the planning and giving the orders to jam your military communications and radar," Paul said as his face took on a more serious tone.

Emma blinked as she hadn't expected such a straight out admission. She had to quickly refocus herself to get out her follow up question, "Didn't you even consider the impact and ramifications of this act? People were hurt…some might question your actions as they could be considered an act of war. How do you respond to that?"

"I think that you have to understand the universe where we came from and the circumstances we found ourselves in. First of all we were conducting a Search and Rescue mission for one of our pilots that had crashed on the planet. At the time we didn't know how we would be received by the population as from our own experiences with first encounters, they tended to end…not well. When I planned our rescue mission, minimizing casualties on both sides was a main consideration, but I make no apologies over trying to rescue my pilot and not put my crew at risk. I'm just glad that we were able to work through this misunderstanding and establish such an excellent and productive relationship now…"

**oOoOo**

"Ohhh, he's good," Willow said with a laugh.

Chief Larson couldn't help herself as she laughed too, watching how the Captain handled himself in the interview. She studied her friend's body language and could tell that he was turning up the charm as the reporter was pretty effective in her questioning. She detected subtle changes in how the reporter was sitting and how she titled her head looking at the Captain. Larson glanced over at Faith, noting that she was intently studying Paul and the reporter as the interview continued.

_"There have been questions raised about the rationale, purposes and goals of the expedition that you will be leading to the other side of the galaxy. The White House announced that this will be a military led mission and many different groups in the United States and around the world have denounced the military aspect of this mission and that it should be more of a scientific and diplomatic mission. How do you respond to those concerns?"_

Everyone watched as Paul took a moment to shift in his chair to make himself more comfortable, putting his thoughts together.

_"I think that they are valid questions and I think that we are addressing those concerns as we proceed with our mission planning… We go on this mission with the hope to establish peaceful relations with any other species we encounter, but at the same time our primary goal is the protection of Earth and determining if there are any threats out there. We have determined that there is an Invid presence in this universe, but to what extent and how much of a threat they are is unknown. That is one of the reasons we are launching this mission. We cannot sit back and wait for threats to show up on our doorstep…past experience has taught us that waiting can lead to possible disaster."_

**oOoOo**

_He's a smooth operator_, Emma thought studying the Captain and how he met and responded to each of her questions.

"Questions are being raised if whether this mission, rather than help create the peace only creates the war that you say you are seeking to avoid. Wouldn't it be more prudent to keep your ships here and help expand our technical and scientific knowledge to help improve Earth and our defenses against this 'potential' threat as you call it?"

"Our mission's goal is to ensure peace, but we're going to be ready able to respond to any threats as we encounter them… To help with the defense of the planet, we have transferred eight of our light cruisers over to several countries along with providing the necessary training and technical knowledge for the operation of those ships as a show of goodwill," Paul replied with a small grin that caught Emma by surprise.

"That's all well and good, but according to reports weren't those ships heavily damaged?"

Again Paul grinned, "Yes they were, along with the Arcadia and that brings us to the crux of the problem and the major reason for this mission…"

"And that is?" Emma asked with a tilt of her head.

"We have limited supplies of our fuel… Protoculture, that powers and makes Robotechnology possible. If we don't find and secure a supply, then we'll lose our ability to run a lot of our technology. Granted we still have a lot of scientific advances to offer, but in the broadest terms we will lose the ability to travel among the stars."

Paul studied the reporter's face, seeing that she still looked skeptical. Fortunately, he'd come prepared with some visual aids to help with his case.

"I still don't think that—"

"I'm sorry to interrupt…Emma. You don't mind if I call you Emma," Paul said flashing a grin.

Emma found herself caught off-guard by her guest taking control of the interview. Normally she would know how to deal with this situation, but she suddenly found herself a little tongue-tied looking into the Captain's face. She still had a whole line of questioning about him and his little vacation on Earth in the company — according to her sources — was a woman considerably younger than him. There were rumors floating around about a sex tape, but she wasn't going to bring that up. Her questioning was going to bring up the whole story the White House was feeding the media about the Captain and try to get to the real man underneath all the press releases. She quickly decided to take a chance and see where this went.

"No…I don't mind you calling me Emma, only if I can call you Paul," she said with a small laugh as she lightly brushed her hair with her hand. She was again surprised when the Captain's grin got bigger. She strangely felt her heart beat faster and her skin flush…

**oOoOo**

Watching the exchange between the Captain and the news reporter, the beginnings of warning bells started going off in Chief Larson's head. She risked another glance towards Faith and could she her face take on a more serious look.

_I sure hope the Captain knows what he's doing because he's going to get his ass flamed if he doesn't watch it_, Larson thought as she kept looking between Faith and the video display as the interview continued.

**oOoOo**

"I brought some video that I thought we could play to show why I think that it is important that we go ahead with this mission," Paul said still flashing a big smile.

"I-I don't usually do video clips for interviews… I-I don't think we're prepared for this," Emma said as she suddenly felt that she was losing control of her interview. She was going to say something else, when her production manager spoke over her ear piece telling her that the video was queued up, "O-Okay… I-I just heard that the video is ready…let's go ahead and show it," she said turning her head to the closest video monitor as she was extremely curious as to what Paul had in mind.

She watched as the video played showing the planet from a distance. It took her a moment to realize that she was looking at Earth from the other universe. She saw groups of ships clustered close to the point of the video camera, and had a good view of the whole planet. Suddenly the picture seemed to change, the planet became harder to see as if the video quality was degrading. Paul's voice caught her by surprise.

"I was eight years old when this video was taken… I was aboard the SDF-1 with my mom and dad… There's nothing wrong with the video, what you are seeing is the Zentraedi Imperial Grand Fleet…consisting of nearly five million warships defolding around my Earth…"

Emma had heard and read about the Earth and the Zentraedi attack on the planet in the other universe, but she hadn't seen any video…until now. She found herself pulled into the moment, watching as what seemed liked endless clusters of ships, suddenly appearing out of nowhere, filling the space around Earth. For a moment all the ships seemed to just hang there…then they fired.

"We call it the 'Rain of Death'… On that day…in that moment…over seventy percent of the planet died…"

Emma couldn't believe what she was watching as she listened to Paul's voice taken on a more serious — harder — edge. She turned to look back at him and was surprised to find that he was looking directly at her. He had been watching her the whole time, not looking at the video display as he narrated it. She found his one good eye staring at her. She felt it boring into her as she felt her pulse quicken as her gaze turned back to the video display, showing his Earth being consumed in fire.

"I have one more video clip…if you don't mind," Paul asked with the hard tone still in his voice.

Emma could only nod as she found she had no words. Her gaze slowly turned back to the video monitor as the other clip came up. This time the video started with explosions and fighting appearing to be happening over a city.

"What you're now seeing is the Battle of New Macross City… I was eleven at the time…"

Emma heard Paul's voice take on an angrier, bitter tone. She turned again to look at him, he was still looking at her and not the video monitor. She saw the look on his face and in his eye and as he narrated the video, she knew that he'd committed this video to memory.

"Khyron…one of the surviving Zentraedi commanders launched an attack on the city."

Emma hesitantly turned her gaze back to the video monitor and watched as fighters and other strange craft zoomed across the sky shooting at each other, while a huge long green ship — that looked like a barracuda — closed in, firing huge beams of energy at what looked like a giant robot sitting in a lake. She felt herself getting lost in the video clip that she actually jumped in surprise when Paul spoke in a sharp voice.

"Freeze it there!"

Emma turned to face Paul, sucking in a deep breath at seeing his face, "That explosion in the bottom left hand corner of the clip…that was one of our Veritech fighters…my father's fighter," Paul paused to take in a deep breath. He hadn't looked at this particular video clip in years, but he had it burned into his memory. He knew the timing and the sounds to the exact moment where his father had died and what happened minutes later, without having to even look at the clip.

"Less than five minutes after my father died… I watched my mother and sister die," he said in what almost sounded like a matter-of-fact way if hadn't been for the tone of his voice.

Emma was speechless as Paul called for the video to resume playing. She watched as the battle over the city continued and then suddenly the huge robot started to rise slowly from the lake. It seemed to take forever, but the robot rose higher and higher in the sky. She watched as two long appendages by the head lowered slightly. Her eyes went wide as she saw energy crackling between the appendages, building up, finally erupting in a huge burst striking out towards the other attacking ship. She had to fight the instinct to keep from cheering as the enemy ship was hit hard and heavily damaged. Any feelings of triumph quickly faded as she saw the enemy ship still on a downward approach towards the giant robot that was now slowly falling back towards the ground. She found herself frozen, watching in growing horror as she realized what was going to happen as the dying enemy ship continued on its death plunge. She found herself holding her breath up until the final second when the enemy ship struck the giant robot directly in the center of its chest. The screen flashed brightly and the video ended.

It took a moment for Emma to realize that the video was over. Slowly turning back to face Paul, she noted that he still hadn't moved. Seeing the hard look on his face, she wanted to say something to him, but she had no words. Her ear piece was silent as everyone in the studio and control room were stunned by what they had witnessed. Finally Paul broke the silence.

"I want you… I want everyone to see where we come from," he paused for a second which only added to the dramatic effect, "Every one of us in the REF, took an oath to protect and defend Earth, laying down our lives if necessary. We aren't going on this mission as some sort of lark or pleasure cruise. We go because we know what the stakes are and what the costs are if we fail…"


	44. You magnificent bastard!

**CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR:**

**You magnificent bastard!**

"_…After that first Coleiro interview, there was an immense surge of support for the REF. There were still various groups, organizations and countries that protested different aspects of the mission (i.e. too militaristic, who was involved, etc.) along with the agreements that were in place for the sharing of technical knowledge (i.e. not enough was being shared or wasn't being shared fast enough)._

_Captain Coleiro worked hard to deal with and alleviate these concerns. He incorporated a diplomatic team into his ship command structure that would include diplomats and negotiators from the UN and some of the major world powers that while wouldn't have any say in the running of the mission would have responsibility for establishing relations with any alien races encountered, once the REF had concluded that there was no threat. A science component was added to the mission as well._

_These compromises on the Captain's part silenced most of the critics, demonstrating his goodwill and willingness to cooperate. There were still those that were critical of the whole mission and the Captain in particular. There were many rumours circulating that Captain Coleiro was planning to expand his force to takeover the planet. These concerns only increased and became more vocal as information about T.R. Edwards and his plot to takeover the REF and become a Robotech Master became known._

_We now know that a lot of these rumors and criticisms were being orchestrated to discredit and create doubt about the Captain and the REF. In light of events and what we know now, these plans and attempts were _not_ to keep the Arcadia from leaving on her mission, but to sow the ground for after they left. In that regards, they were very successful…_"

— excerpt from "_The Arcadia Effect – Effects and Evolution of Human Society from 2003 to 2013_"

**oOoOo**

Chief Larson shook her head slowly as a grin formed on her face as she watched the interview end and the video display switched over to another show. Glancing around the table, her grin got bigger at seeing the stunned looks on everyone's faces. She found herself wanting to cheer out loud, applauding the Captain's chutzpah for the message he'd just delivered on live TV.

_Coleiro…you magnificent bastard!_

Giles finally broke the silence, "Uh… It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but I think he got his point across."

Rachel liked Giles and didn't want to hurt his feelings, so she tried not to laugh at his understating the obvious of what they had just watched. Taking a glance towards Faith, she saw a somber look on her face. They made eye contact with each other.

_He really does love you_, Larson thought, nodding her head slightly to Faith, getting a small smile and nod in return.

**oOoOo**

Buffy and Lt. Commander Wright were enjoying the quiet after everyone had left the table. They were sipping on their coffee, talking about the Captain's interview and exchanging some idle chit-chat. She was surprisingly still finding herself sometimes a bit nervous around James, even though they had been spending quite a bit of time together and also considering what they were doing during those get-togethers.

"You have to head back soon?" Buffy asked trying to keep her anticipation in check.

Wright smiled as he knew what she was leading up to, "Actually I planned on staying over tonight. Main power is going to be down on the Dolphin tonight as they have to take her Reflex furnace offline for some repairs and I have planning meetings with the Captain scheduled for tomorrow, so…"

"Do you have a place to stay?" she asked getting a knowing smile on her face.

"Not really… I guess I was waiting to see if anything came available," he said as his smile got bigger.

"Oh, I think I know a place where you may be able to stay, but you might have to share the accommodations."

"I like sharing," James said, reaching across the table taking Buffy's hand in his.

As they walked slowly back to her cabin, Buffy still found it hard to believe that she was getting involved with someone, especially someone like James. Her mind replayed how they had gotten to this point. It had been just after Dawn had announced that she was joining the REF and going with the Arcadia on her mission. Her plans were to head back down to the surface, she had already packed up what little she had and talked with Giles, Willow and Spike about going back down to the surface. Other than her, only Spike seemed to be excited about going back down to the planet.

She had found herself sitting alone in the cafeteria staring at her food, when out of nowhere a voice was asking if she was Buffy Summers. She can still remember looking up and finding herself looking into a pretty good looking man, with a big smile on his face. She hadn't recognized him at first and it was only after he had introduced himself and said he wanted to thank her that she recognized him from when she had helped with the Search and Rescue mission aboard that other ship.

They had started talking and several hours later, they had ended back in her cabin kissing passionately, frantically pulling off each other's clothes. She had resigned herself to it being a one-night stand and thrown herself into the moment to enjoy it. She hadn't expected James to stick around or even call her again, so she'd been pleasantly surprised when he asked to see her again. At first she thought it would be good to have some fun before heading back down to the planet, but the more time she spent with James, the more she found that she wasn't that eager to leave. It wasn't long after that Spike left, it had been a bitter-sweet farewell for them. He had asked her — almost pleading — to come with him, but she told him that she couldn't. She didn't say anything about James, but she could read Spike's eyes and could see that he knew. She felt the guilt pull at her as he left, telling her that he would be around when she "came back down from the stars" as he put it.

The last couple of weeks had then been filled with intense passionate sex, whenever James made it over to the Arcadia. It helped that all the ships were docked together using the International Space Station as a "dry dock" as James called it as the ships selected to go on the mission were being repaired first.

They had spent quite a bit of time talking, getting to know each other better. She had been upfront and honest about whom she was, what she did and that she wasn't looking for a long-term relationship. It caught her by surprise by how quickly he'd accepted all of it. They both agreed to keep what they were doing from getting serious, as they each had their own reasons for avoiding any complications.

At first, Buffy was thrilled with the non-committal intense sex they would have, but then she started enjoying how James would hold her afterwards and they would just talk. She still didn't know when her feelings for him changed, but she could tell that he was starting to feel the same way. She was finding herself now, when he was holding her after sex, that she was having to fight back an angry bittersweet feeling hating the thought of him leaving

Even knowing about their changing feelings, they both kept dancing around the subject, not talking about it. The looming spectre of the upcoming mission was casting its shadow across them. They kept their talks focused on the past and the present as they purposely avoided any talk of the future. They didn't want to face their feelings for each other as they were both afraid of hurting each other, being separated by vast galactic distances with the possibility that they would never see each other again.

**oOoOo**

Feeling the shuttle come to a stop in the landing bay, Paul took a moment to rub the bridge of nose before his eyes went back down to his tablet, doing a quick review of the latest status updates from all the ships in his little "fleet", before disembarking from the shuttle. He had taken advantage of his shuttle trip back, from the planet surface, to do a quick flyby to inspect the fleet and the improvised shipyard that they had put together using the International Space Station already in orbit.

_It's no Robotech Factory Satellite, but we make do with what we have_, he thought studying the status updates.

That had been one of the first major projects to get completed. They had used the hulls of the two most heavily damaged light cruisers, attaching them to the space station after boosting it into a higher orbit. The repaired power systems from those cruisers along with (and more importantly) the gravity control systems were incorporated into the station providing a rudimentary space dock capability for major repairs to be affected on the rest of the surviving ships. Daily shuttle flights were now traveling between the station and the surface along with scouring the debris fields for any salvageable material.

As Paul disembarked the shuttle, he was still glancing over reports on his tablet. He was reviewing the latest updates regarding pilot training and the rebuilding of the fighter squadrons. It was progressing slowly, Lieutenant Evans had it well in hand and the reformed "Grim Reapers" were expected to be at full operational status within the next couple of weeks. Other squadrons were in the process of being formed as the list of volunteer pilots wanting to join the REF was long. Once people had seen what Veritech fighters were capable of doing, military pilots along with a lot of other people were clamouring over each other for a chance to fly them. Unlike the ground forces, that he had left in General Coulson's capable hands, he would be reviewing and vetting the pilots himself. Paul had made it quite clear that he was opening the selection process to any and all pilots from around the world and that had created a stampede of people excitedly wanting to join.

He knew that he couldn't take everyone and trying to establish any sort of REF or RDF component to stay behind on Earth was currently beyond his capabilities and resources, especially with the limited supplies of Protoculture. He knew that some form of United Earth Government was inevitable, but until they completed their mission that plan would have to stay on the back burner. His hope was that by giving some of his cruisers to the major nation states and having them train and work together that would lay the foundation to make forming a REF/RDF and eventually the creation of a UEG easier.

He was honest when he said that he wasn't a politician and hated politics, but his goal was to oversee the creation of a large Robotech military force. He never voiced it, but it still burned in him knowing that The First Evil was still floating around along with all the Hellmouths. He realized that the capping of the Sunnydale Hellmouth was only a temporary measure. His ultimate goal was to remove the threat posed by The First and its minions for good. He would burn out each and every Hellmouth if that was what was needed.

His plan wasn't only motivated by his hate for The First and how it had messed with his mind. His primary motivation was now Faith. He was going to make sure that any threat to her from demonic forces was eliminated…permanently. He was going to find a way to kill The First and he was going to do it himself. He maintained a calm exterior whenever there were discussions or mention about The First and the Hellmouths, but inside he made sure that the burning embers of his hate were still well stoked as he eagerly looked forward to the day when he would lead the attack.

As he reached his cabin door, he felt the exhaustion pull at him. It had been a long day of meetings and the press interview had emotionally drained him. Knowing that he had a long day of mission planning meetings tomorrow, his thoughts were only of bed as the door opened. He was surprised to find a small table sitting in the middle of his cabin with a table cloth on it with a pair of unlit candles. A smirk flashed on his face as he noticed the bottle of wine and pair of glasses, next to the candles.

_The only thing missing is the food and Faith_, Paul thought as grin came to his face as he put his briefcase down on his desk and took his uniform jacket off.

Rummaging through his desk, he found a pack of survival matches and used them to light the candles. Opening the wine, he poured some into each glass. He'd barely finished pouring the wine when his cabin door opened. He arched an eyebrow in slight surprise as Faith came in followed by one of the crew he recognized from the ship's galley pushing a cart with covered plates.

"Hope I'm not interrupting your dinner plans?" Paul said with a tired smile.

"Actually you're just in time," Faith replied with her own smile.

Paul was going to help with serving the plates on the table, but Faith waved him off as she and the crewman quickly laid out the food. He hadn't thought he was hungry, but as the smell of food hit his nostrils, he felt his stomach start to growl. It wasn't long before the food was out and ready to eat. Paul watched as Faith thanked the crewman and he came quickly to attention which had Paul return a salute and also thanking the crewman before dismissing him. Faith waited until the door had closed, behind the crewman, before saying anything.

"I thought that a nice quiet dinner would be just what the doctor ordered for tonight."

Paul felt his tiredness fade away, looking at Faith in the flickering candle light. He smiled as he saw a bowl of strawberries and a can of whip cream off to the side, "I take it that's for dessert?" nodding his head towards the bowl.

A wicked smile flashed across her face, "Part of dessert…there's something I always wanted to try."

Paul's smile got bigger as he shook his head slowly. He suddenly didn't feel so tired. A thought went off in his head quickly changing his focus, "Before we go any further and we get distracted, I got something for you."

Faith started to protest about getting more gifts, but Paul cut her off, "I think you'll especially like this one," he said with a smile, opening his briefcase and taking out the envelope he'd been carrying. His smile got bigger at seeing the confused look on her face, handing it to her. He found himself anxious and excited as she quickly opened the envelope, taking out the documents and reading them. He tried not to laugh as he saw the look of shock on her face.

"Is this for real?" she asked feeling shock and in disbelief at what she was holding in her hand.

"Yup…that's an official Presidential Pardon for all crimes committed by one Faith Lehane," Paul said still smiling.

"H-How? I-I don't deserve this…" she said suddenly finding herself having to hold back a flood of emotions.

"First of all… Yes, you do deserve this," Paul said seeing her eyes well up with emotion.

"N-No… No I don't!" Faith said shaking her head as she felt the old guilt stab at her.

Paul moved closer taking her in his arms, looking deep into her faces and eyes, "Yes, you do. Everyone deserves a second chance and this is yours… I-I know that we haven't talked about the future, but I think that this gives us a chance at one if we want it," he said softly, brushing his hand gently across her cheek.

Faith felt her eyes burn and it got harder to see, "I hope it didn't cost you too much to make this happen?" she said as a smile flickered across her face mixing with other emotions.

"You know the three light cruisers I transferred over to the US government?" Paul asked.

Seeing Faith nod, a big grin grew on his face, "The third one was for you," he said.

She let out a laugh as she hugged Paul tightly. Thoughts and emotions raced through her head, she suddenly realized that Paul was taking care of her just in case he didn't make it back. She felt the pain well up as she became aware that they didn't have much time left before he was gone. She suddenly found that she didn't want to let go or say good-bye, but she knew that it was going to happen despite what she wanted.

Slowly pulling away from him, Faith looked up into his face. She smiled softly as she ran her hand gently across the scar on his face, "I think we should go directly to dessert," she said in a soft voice.

**oOoOo**

It was late as Riley entered General Coulson's office. Approaching the desk, he could see the General intently studying an electronic device about the size of book with a display screen. He recognized the device as one of those electronic tablets — a hand-held portable computer — that the REF used. He'd heard that they had provided the technical specs for the devices and several computer companies in Silicon Valley were hurriedly getting ready to crank the devices out with the first production run allocated for government and the military. Finn came to attention in front of the General's desk as he continued to read the screen, occasionally swiping his finger across the screen.

"At ease, Riley. Grab a seat," Coulson said not taking his eyes off the device as he gestured to the empty chair in front of his desk.

Finn quickly sat down, still not saying a word. The moment seemed to hang until the General finally put down the tablet, making eye contact with him.

"You probably heard about my 'promotion'?" Coulson asked, leaning back in his chair.

"Yes, sir. Word has been spreading around all day. Congratulations on the appointment, sir."

"Yes, thank you…" Coulson said waving off Riley, "…but that's not why I called you here tonight."

"Sir?"

"I received word late this afternoon that with my appointment to the expeditionary force, our unit's strength, budget and operations are to be scaled back as they are re-evaluated into how they fit into the new operational models being developed to take into account new technological developments and the changing strategic situation…"

For a second, Riley couldn't believe what he was being told, "T-They're shutting us down?!"

Coulson could see the disbelief and growing anger in the young man's face, "No…they wouldn't be that obvious. I did some checking through some back-channels, this order came from some of the JCSs that we know are on the payroll of Wolfram &amp; Hart and I saw a copy of an email memorandum that originated from the Vice-President."

"Sir, you can go to the SECDEF…he can countermand the directive! They can't believe that there are no more demonic threats!"

"I wish it was that easy, son…" Coulson said shaking his head, "They've managed to bury us under a whole level of bureaucratic bullshit that would require a huge shovel and years to get out from under."

"But they can't get away with this, sir! There—"

"Riley, to be honest, I'm not that surprised that they tried a maneuver like this. They know I'm going and they're taking this opportunity to remove our unit as a threat to whatever plans they have…" Coulson paused for a second. Riley could have sworn he saw a twitch on the General's face that almost looked like the beginnings of a smile, "But that doesn't mean we still can't throw a monkey wrench into whatever they're planning."

Coulson reached into his desk drawer, Riley watched as the General pulled something out and slide it across the desk to him. Riley blinked as he looked at the flash drive lying on the desk in front of him. He looked up as the General spoke, "That drive contains information that you and your wife will need to keep our operations going… It has names of contacts, safe houses, caches of weapons and supplies and bank accounts to support you. All this information is clean…it's all off the books and nobody outside of this room knows about any of this."

Riley picked up the drive, looking at it in his hand. For something so small, it felt so heavy. He listened as the General kept speaking.

"Right now, we're engaged in a shadow war with these forces and they have taken the first major shot at us. They think they've crippled us…you and Sam's orders are to lie low…make them think they've crippled us. Go through the motions, but keep your eyes and ears open. If things go bad… The Slayers… Buffy and Faith will be our only hope. You and Sam will work with them, if you can win that would be a best case scenario, but your orders are to fight and delay the enemy until our expedition returns… We will then rain holy fire down on them, do you understand me?"

A small smile came to Riley's face at hearing the General's plan, "Yes, sir! Crystal, sir!"

"I've also taken some other measures to give us some advantages. You know about the eight cruisers that Captain Coleiro transferred over to some of the major powers?"

"Yes, sir. I heard we got three of them," Riley replied wondering where the General was going with this.

"Yes and the Russians got two cruisers, the Europeans got two to split between all of them and the Chinese got one… I've pulled some strings and called in a lot of favors. I'm trying to make it so that our people and ones that we know are clean are on those cruisers and the space station."

Riley was shocked at how audacious of a plan the General was putting in place, "Even those other cruisers?"

"Yes…all of them. I have a lot of contacts and a lot of favors owed," Coulson said as his face finally broke into a smile, "Those ships carry a lot of firepower and if we control those ships, that means we control the high ground, so if things go bad we still have these ships as a resource to use or at the least, we neutralize the ships from being used against us."

Coulson paused, studying Riley's face before continuing, "I know I'm asking and dropping a lot on both you and Sam, but if there was any other way I would take it."

"Yes, sir. I understand, sir. We'll take care of everything while you're gone," Riley said firmly as he glanced down at the flash drive in his hand.

"I know you will, son… I know you will…"


	45. I'll be back…

**CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE:**

**I'll be back…**

"_…It's still hard to fathom how wide of a conspiracy and network The First Evil had constructed and that it had left nothing to chance. We thought we were prepared for anything that it could throw at us as we thought we had the advantage. We had stopped the Cleveland Hellmouth from opening, by using the power of the Scythe to activate all the Potentials into Slayers. We didn't realize it until it was too late that The First was prepared to counter that move… I'm still haunted by the images I saw on television…the West Wing of the White House in flames…guards and Secret Service agents littering the grounds…other agents firing wildly, cutting down a teenage girl in a hail of bullets on the lawn of the White House. It was much later that we learned that the Bringers had kept a Potential captive for years, torturing her…conditioning her in the event she was chosen. To this day I still taste bitter ashes in my mouth when I see pictures of Vice-President Kinsey being sworn in as President. At the time we thought it couldn't get any worse. We were wrong…_"

— Giles Rupert

**oOoOo**

_The beings watching were as old as time as they had existed since the beginning. The REF personnel would have probably referred to these beings as aliens, maybe they were but Buffy and others only knew them as the "Powers That Be". Whatever they were, from their higher realm they watched as dark powers gathered their forces and plotted. With vested interest and much concern, they watched as the humans prepared their ships to journey out into the galaxy. There was great uncertainty and worry with so much at risk…_

_"Are we sure that this is the path that the Shapings want?"_

_"This is the only path. This is theirs and our only choice and chance. Without freeing the Invid and allowing them to continue their evolution, the shadows will spread… If the shadows and the demons of this world join forces, it will pave the way for the Old Ones to return and spread out from Earth…all life across this galaxy will perish."_

_"Still…there is so much pain and suffering they will have to endure along this path to achieve the desired outcome…"_

_"As in all things in life…everything is born to blood and pain, it is the nature of life. We have done all we can to facilitate these events…it is up to the humans and the other species to walk the path."_

_"I know, but the path he must walk…the choices he will be forced to make. How do we know that he will do what is needed? How we can be sure that he is the one?"_

_"The Flower of Life transcends all realms…all realities. For better or for worse, the Flower has chosen him for this path."_

_"I know, but how do we know?"_

_"He will do it because he loves her… His love will give him the strength to make the decisions and sacrifices that are necessary."_

_"Even if that means he cannot be with her?"_

_"Yes…even if it means that." _

**oOoOo**

"What's wrong?"

Buffy found it hard to turn around and look back at James lying in her bed, "N-Nothing… I-I just need to get a drink of water," she lied, grabbing a shirt to pull on as she got up, heading off to the bathroom. Turning on the faucet to let the water run, she stood there bent over the sink. She didn't want to look into the mirror as she was afraid to see her face. After what felt like an eternity, she raised her head seeing her face in the mirror. She saw the pain and anguish in her eyes as she tried to keep from crying. She tried taking deep breaths to get herself under control, but all she felt was the pain inside.

_He's going away in three days… We told each other that we wouldn't get serious… Why does it hurt so much?_

She took more deep breaths, trying to regain her emotional control. This wasn't the first time that a guy had left her. It felt as every guy in her life had left her… Her father had abandoned her because he couldn't handle the responsibilities and keep it in his pants… Angel left her because he thought he couldn't give her what she wanted… Riley left because he felt she hadn't emotionally invested in him… Spike stayed around, but she didn't know what she felt there. With James, she hadn't gotten involved with any hopes or dreams beyond each day. They were both enjoying each other and just being in the moment. She hadn't planned for any of it to go this way. She hadn't planned to feel…

"You okay?"

Buffy whipped around to see James standing in the doorway of the bathroom with a concerned look on his face.

"I-I…" Buffy started to say, but she found that she couldn't get the words out. She found she couldn't look at him, she suddenly felt his arms around her pulling her tight into his body. She felt the heat from his body as her arms instinctively wrapped around him. She held him tight, not wanting to let him go.

James felt Buffy's body heaving as she sobbed quietly in his arms. He held her tight as he didn't want to let her go either. He still wasn't sure when he'd fallen in love with her, but he knew that she felt the same way. He also knew that she was having a hard time dealing with the fact that he would be leaving in three days. He had always been focused on his career as he got a thrill out of traveling the galaxy, even with all the danger and threats out there. He'd never planned on putting down roots anywhere let alone settling down. Now as he held this beautiful woman, who was incredibly strong, but also fragile in some ways, he felt growing hesitation and doubts that he'd never felt before. He knew that he would soon be on the other side of the galaxy, facing who knows what along with the risk that he might never return. He held on to Buffy tightly, not wanting to let go, whispering softly that everything would be alright and that he loved her.

**oOoOo**

"All personnel from the 5th Marine Regiment and 3rd Ranger Battalion are aboard and settling into quarters… Elements of the 1st and 4th Marine Tank Battalions are in the process of loading, along with all engineering, artillery and logistic supporting units," General Coulson reported with a tired yet satisfied look on his face. The last four months, since he'd taken on his new role, had been a whirlwind of activity to select and train the ground forces that would be accompanying the expedition.

"What about heavy equipment?" Paul asked.

"That's a little bit trickier with our limited heavy lift capability, but we should be all stowed away by our departure time," Coulson said from the other side of the conference table.

Paul nodded in satisfaction, looking over the data, streaming on the display screen, "Any issues that I need to know about?"

"Just the normal adjustment issues, some are finding it a little difficult to believe they're in space and there have been a few incidents of claustrophobia, but the medical staff are on top of things. I think that seeing the amenities aboard is softening the blow for everyone… I've scheduled a meeting with Colonel McLean of the 5th and Lieutenant Colonel Nelson of the 3rd and their respective command staffs, later today at 1530 ship's time to review training and operational plans. There will be the full command staff meeting in the War Room, tomorrow at 0930. I don't see any issues as they've all been training groundside together for the last four weeks."

"Have our newest additions seen the War Room yet?" Paul asked with a small knowing grin on his face.

Coulson laughed, "Yeah, I gave them the tour… You would think we had entered a church when they saw it. When I showed them the holographic tactics table…well I never thought I would see a Marine and Ranger cry in joy at the same time in the same room."

Everyone around the table had a good laugh at the imagery. "I guess wonders never cease," Paul said getting a few more chuckles.

"I want to make sure that Colonel Mclean and Lieutenant Colonel Nelson are included in our meetings from now on. They're senior officers and I would like to get their viewpoints as well as get them used to how we do things in the REF," Paul added.

"Understood, sir." Coulson responded. He still found it strange that he was deferring to a Captain, but it was slowly wearing off. Working closely with Paul, since he'd taken on his new role, had given him a new appreciation towards the Captain and what he was capable of.

"I'm still surprised that you went mostly with Marines for your ground force component…you know considering you're an Army General," Wright asked.

"It wasn't much of a hard choice," Coulson said with a shrug, "Marines are used to working off of ships as expeditionary units and being organized into Regimental Combat Teams with supporting units attached, so this wasn't much of a stretch to fit them in our TOE."

"Any issues with the Pentagon over the unit selections?" Paul asked.

"There was a little blow back, but they had given me carte blanche to approach whoever I wanted. When the Marines heard that I was looking, there was literally a stampede of unit commanders submitting their names for this mission."

"And they're all aware of how long we might be gone and all the risks?" Paul asked with a concerned look. He wanted to make sure that everyone on the expedition was committed to the mission. There would be no turning around and going home until the mission was completed and it was determined that there were no threats to Earth.

"From what I understand, each Marine was informed about what this mission would entail and they all volunteered. It was the same with the Rangers, they signed up even faster once I told them that they would be equipped with Cyclones. From what I hear, there were literally brawls among the tankers to see who would go when they were told that they would get the chance of operating Destroids." Coulson said smiling.

There were laughs around the conference table at hearing how enthused the troops were.

"Anything else I need to know?" Paul asked feeling much better now.

"Just some minor adjustments to our expedition force structure. I thought it would be prudent to add some other Special Forces units to our mix along with our Rangers… I've managed to get one of our US Navy Seal Teams and as a show of co-operation with the Russians and some of our European allies, I've included a Spetsnaz unit and SAS team. Those units have been training the last two weeks with our troops, learning how to use Cyclones along with all the infantry weapons available in our inventory…the body armor, Wolverine assault rifle and the laser weaponry seem to be the most popular ones," Coulson said with a grin.

"You decide on how you're going to distribute the troops among the fleet?" Lieutenant Hanson asked.

"I've pretty much ironed out all the details," Coulson said scratching his chin in thought, "Regimental Combat Team 5 will be based on the Arcadia. With the 3rd Ranger Battalion, I'm going to spread them by companies on the light cruisers with the battalion HQ based on the Arcadia. Special Forces units will be based on the Arcadia except for the SAS team which will be based on the Dolphin, so Commander Wright has some SF capability at his disposal. Those units have been training for insertions using dropships as well using Alphas with Betas attached, so we have flexibility in how we deploy and use them."

At the mention of fighters, Paul decided to switch topics, "Lieutenant Evans…" he asked turning towards Cassie, "How are we on pilot training?"

Cassie took a deep breath as a part of her still felt as she didn't belong at this table, but up until this point the Captain had been happy with her work and hadn't fired her…yet.

"Pilot selection took longer than we planned due to the huge number of people wanting to join. That delay has impacted on training as we are now just catching up with our training course schedule. We have a good cohort of REF pilots now to help with training and we're using those pilots to help form the nucleus of our reformed squadrons. The Grim Reapers are now operational… The other squadrons are at different stages in the training program, but considering our mission profile, I don't see a problem having all projected squadrons operational by the time we hit Tirolian space."

Paul nodded satisfied at Cassie's report as he'd been keeping an eye on her to make sure that she didn't get in over her head. "Lieutenant Hanson, status of ship's crew?"

"Between the people we recovered and the surviving crews of all the ships, we've done pretty good to fill all the holes. We didn't have to look for as many people, but like the others we had a huge response of volunteers and we got the pick of the litter," Aaron replied with a satisfied smile.

"Same here. All ships are fully-manned," Wright replied also smiling, especially after finding out earlier that he'd gotten a promotion to a full Commander and given command of the light cruiser group.

Sitting back in his chair, Paul took a moment to look out the conference room window to see the Earth and the ships floating in space around her. His mind was a torrent of thoughts and emotions as he went over everything again in his head. He finally sat forward again, looking around the table making eye contact with everyone, "Does anybody see any reason why we should be delaying our departure date?"

He was answered with a chorus of "No, sir" with heads shaking which just reaffirmed his own evaluation of their status. "Then it looks like we're good to go," he said as he flashed a small smile.

**oOoOo**

In an observation room overlooking the Horizont docking bay, Faith watched as large numbers of soldiers and equipment disembarked from the drop pods attached to the dropships. She hadn't really wanted to be here, but the Arcadia was getting to be a crowded ship with the influx of all the new people. It was getting harder to find a place to be alone without bumping into a crowd of people. It wasn't that she was anti-social, but the Marines would get one glimpse of her — and her tight jeans — and would immediately try to get to know her better. A few of the more persistent suitors were warned off by some of the REF crew, not primarily because she was involved with the Captain, but that she would hand them their asses.

Watching the people below scurry about the bay doing their jobs, she sighed deeply. She'd hoped that the distraction would keep the thoughts and feelings she was trying to avoid from coming to the forefront. She'd run into Buffy in the cafeteria earlier, the look on her face mirrored what she was feeling inside as she was painfully aware of how little time was left. Her thoughts and focus were suddenly redirected as she recognized one of the people disembarking from the dropship.

"What the hell is she doing aboard?" Faith muttered shaking her head in angry disbelief.

**oOoOo**

Emma Michaels walked down the loading ramp into the busy and noisy docking bay. Out of instinct, she took a deep breath. She knew that there was nothing wrong with the air, but it more symbolized starting a new adventure which would be the pinnacle of her career.

She was still walking on clouds at being selected to be the media representative for the expedition. She'd actually been surprised that she was chosen over a long list of experienced field correspondents vying for the position. She had heard talk going around that the Vice-President himself had lobbied for her as he'd been impressed by her interviews with Captain Coleiro.

Thinking of Paul got her mind going off in other directions. After that first interview with him, she found it hard to get him out of her thoughts. Their first interview had drawn such huge ratings, which naturally resulted in the network pushing for her to do follow-up interviews and more in-depth coverage of the Captain. She had grudgingly admitted that she was attracted to the man and it only seemed to grow each time she was around him. She had finally decided to let him know that she was interested and available at one of the many Washington political social functions that they occasionally both attended to raise awareness and support for the REF and the expedition.

It was unfortunate that Paul had brought his so-called girlfriend to that particular gathering. Emma had eyed and quickly dismissed the younger woman as any sort of competition. She was good-looking and her youth caused Emma a little surprise as she couldn't understand what Paul would see in a woman like that beyond the obvious sexual connotations. She had heard the rumors about the two of them and had to admit that she'd found herself, quite often these days, fantasizing being with him.

After a couple drinks, she'd gotten brave enough to try her chances as she thought she could easily sway his mind to dump the young bimbo. She'd been taken aback when he made it clear he wasn't available, he was polite about the whole matter, but it still stung. His rejection hadn't really dissuaded her, it actually increased her desire for him and she started becoming more aggressive in her approaches.

His girlfriend — Faith — on the other hand had been something else entirely as she'd taken her hitting on Paul not as politely. She still shook at the memory as Faith had later cornered her in the ladies room. She had made it very loud and very clear, in some very crude language, for her to back off or she would kick her "scrawny ass". Emma was used to threats in her line of work, but Faith had punctuated her threat by ripping the hand dryer easily off the wall, without much effort or even breaking a finger nail. What had unsettled her even more was the way Faith had smiled at her when she set the dryer unit down, on the counter, then turned and left the washroom whistling.

Since then, Emma had managed to keep her desires in check, but that was all about to change now that she was aboard the Arcadia knowing that the girlfriend was staying behind. She knew that Paul hadn't expressed any direct interest in her, but being in close quarters so far away from home changed the game now.

_Six months is a long time…plenty of time to see what happens_, she thought as a sly smile formed on her face.

**oOoOo**

Paul tried to focus on the report he was trying to read, but Faith's angry voice was making it difficult for him to concentrate.

"What the hell is that scrawny ass bitch doing aboard?!" she said angrily, pacing back and forth in the cabin.

Paul sighed, putting down his work and looking at her, "The government wanted to have someone from the press aboard to document the mission and they selected her… I had no say in the matter," he said holding his hands up defensively.

Faith glared at him, letting out an exasperated sigh as she shook her head, "Why her? Can't you ask for someone else?"

"Not at this late date, they won't go for it," he paused unsure if he should venture into that minefield, but decided to march straight in, "Is the problem that you don't trust me around her?"

The angry look was still firmly planted on her face as she folded her arms across her chest, "No… My problem is that I don't trust that bitch to be around you!"

Paul tried not to laugh, he'd heard about the ladies room incident. He stood up moving over to Faith. It took some prying on his part to get her to unfold her arms, so he could hug her, but she finally relented. He felt her sigh and relax as he held her quietly for a long time.

"That's not what's really bothering you…is it?" he asked.

Faith sighed again, "That's part of it," she took a deep breath as she suddenly couldn't find the words.

"Did you want to go grab a drink?" Paul asked holding her tight.

"Can we just stay here? C-Can we just stay like this?" she asked, her voice choking trying to hold back the pain. Paul didn't say anything, but she got her answer as he hugged her tighter.

**oOoOo**

As Faith stood on the flight deck watching the rush of activity going on around her, she was still trying to come to grips at how fast the last three days had rushed by. Paul had been busy getting the ship and crew ready to leave, but in the evenings he put everything on hold to spend it with her. Now she was leaving. It was strange, but this place over the months had become to feel more like a home than any other place she'd lived in her life. She looked over to the shuttle that was waiting to take them back down to the planet. She found herself feeling anxious and uncertain in a way she hadn't in a while.

Faith realized that she'd been in denial these last few days, because even though she knew that Paul was leaving, she just couldn't believe that it would actually happen. She took a deep breath as she watched other good-bye scenes play out on the flight deck. She saw Dawn and Buffy having a tearful good-bye with Lieutenant Hanson and Commander Wright standing off to the side watching. Willow was caught up in a passionate embrace saying good-bye to Kennedy. Willow and Buffy had already done their tearful farewells with Xander, who was now standing with Anya further back watching the good-byes play out as well.

_Looks like they're going to need a fire hose and crowbar to pry those two apart_, she thought watching Willow and Kennedy holding on to each other tightly, almost refusing to let go of each other.

Faith was a little surprised when she caught sight of Giles and Chief Larson wrapped up in a huge hug over by the hanger bay entrance. A faint smile passed across her face seeing the two of them together. The smile quietly faded to be replaced with anger… She was angry that everyone had to say good-bye. She was angry that Paul and the others had to go across the galaxy to make sure that there were no threats and obtain Protoculture. She had heard some of the crew rumblings about the mission and a part of her agreed with them. She didn't see why it was important to have Protoculture as Earth had managed to get by without it before Paul and his merry little band arrived here.

Paul hadn't yet arrived on the flight deck, she understood as it seemed that everyone wanted a piece of him these days. She found herself worrying about him and her thoughts went back to her conversation with Chief Larson to keep an eye out for the "scrawny ass bitch" reporter and making sure that she kept her claws off of him. Evil thoughts crossed her mind as she fantasized how she would like to deal with that reporter, but Faith wasn't about to jeopardize her pardon over that woman.

She saw as Buffy and Dawn finally stopped hugging, Faith debated about going over to say good-bye, but she just didn't know if she could take the emotion as she had her own drama still yet to play out. In typical fashion for her, she settled for a wave and a nod to Dawn from a distance. She found herself watching as Commander Wright and Buffy started to do their good-byes, when a voice from behind caught her attention.

"Hey…"

She recognized Paul's voice immediately, turning she saw a small smile on his face, "You happy to see me go?" she teased trying to smile and control the storm of emotions she was feeling.

"Yeah…you've been nothing but trouble for me since I saved your sorry ass in Sunnydale," Paul said with a small laugh.

"Admit it…you love my ass."

Paul moved closer taking Faith in his arms, hugging her tightly, "I love all of you," he whispered into her ear holding her, wishing he could freeze the moment.

Faith closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she felt her eyes burn. There was so much to say, but there was no more time. Her mind was a jumble as she couldn't think of what to say next, so she let her actions speak for her, kissing Paul long and hard. She put all her love, longing and pain into the kiss. As she felt him respond it felt as if time stopped for her. She didn't want it to end as she tried to will it to continue, but time started returning to normal as they slowly pulled apart from one another. She felt the pain and the feeling of being alone again welling up inside of her.

As he pulled away, he whispered in her ear, "I'll be back… I promise!"

She grabbed Paul, pulling him back hugging him tightly. She wanted to believe she would see him again, but the uncertainty roared to the forefront, "Don't make a girl a promise, you can't keep," she whispered into his ear as she finally let him go.

For Faith everything took on an unreal aspect as she walked away from Paul, boarding the shuttle with the others. Even as she took her seat and strapped in, she found herself thinking that this was all a bad dream and that she would wake up in bed with Paul asleep next to her. Reality re-exerted itself as she was pushed back into her seat as the shuttle accelerated, taking off. She then saw out her observation window, the world with the darkness of space as the backdrop. The shuttle circled around and passed over the Arcadia, Faith craned herself to get one last look. Her mind was filled with thoughts, feelings and regrets that it took a moment for her to realize that Buffy was talking to her.

"Huh?" she said turning to look at Buffy.

Buffy looked at her sympathetically, "What're you going to do now?" she asked.

Faith turned to look back out the window at the ever shrinking ship in the distance as they started their re-entry into the atmosphere, "I… I really don't know, but I think I'll start with a drink first…"

**oOoOo**

Nobody really paid attention to the young brunette that walked into the bar. Normally she would have drawn immediate attention, but today was different as everyone's eyes were glued to the televisions throughout the bar. Where the TVs would be showing sports, they had the President of the United States speaking as a smaller picture in the corner of the screen showed a group of spaceships moving away from the planet.

Faith was only paying half-attention to the President's speech as she grabbed a seat at the bar. It took her a couple attempts to get the bartender's attention before he would serve her. She smirked, shaking her head as the man didn't hide his attitude at being pulled away from watching what the President keep referring to as a "historic moment for all mankind".

She barely paid attention as the President kept talking on and on. She arched an eyebrow as she heard him say something about how Earth was sending its sons and daughters to the stars in the hopes for finding a lasting peace and future among the stars.

_Lasting peace? Sending over five thousand Marines and Rangers armed to the teeth…that's a funny way to find lasting peace_, she thought with a snort taking a sip of her drink.

The words "lasting peace" echoed in her head as she recalled the meeting she and the others had with Riley after they had landed. They had all been surprised that he was on hand to greet them. The surprise quickly changed as he briefed them on the current situation on the planet. He hadn't gone into specific details, but that he had given all of them burner cell phones so that he could stay in contact with them wasn't a good indication for the future.

As she sat there, sipping her drink, she found herself strangely ambivalent about the whole situation. In some ways things were as they always were. Once again she found herself alone, facing unknown threats. In other ways, her life had taken a dramatic turn. She didn't have to watch over her shoulder worrying about the police now. Where at one time she thought she had no future and no hope, she had now found love which gave her hope for the future.

Her eyes turned back to the TV as she got the sense that the time was close as the President had finished his speech and they had switched back to a news anchor. She found herself now watching as the announcer droned on about some inconsequential bit of information to fill the time as it slowly counted down. She laughed out loud a couple times, drawing strange looks from some of the bar patrons, when she heard the so-called "experts" get some detail of the Arcadia completely wrong.

The laughing felt strange as she kept her eyes focused on the image of the small group of ships that were getting smaller as they put more distance between them and the Earth. Images flashed through her mind as she remembered lying in Paul's bed, with his arms holding her and the moon up close and large and the Earth looking so small in the distance. She felt a pain in her heart as she wished she could turn back time to that moment, wishing that it would never end. Again self-doubts raised their ugly head as they punished her over her decision to stay. Her thoughts were interrupted as the announcer spoke.

_"We've just been informed that the expedition has reached the point where they can execute their space-fold… We're going to cut-over to listen in on the Arcadia's communications…"_

_"…Arcadia to all ships… We've reached jump point co-ordinates. Arcadia space-fold system stable…all systems nominal. Make sure that you are within space-fold perimeter. Check and confirm positions…"_

Faith's eyes went wide in surprise as she immediately recognized Dawn's voice as the one speaking. A small proud smile etched her face.

_"Dolphin…confirmed."_

_"Venture…confirmed."_

_"Majestic…confirmed."_

_"Vagabond…confirmed."_

_"Chimera…confirmed."_

_"Mollusk carrier is confirmed in position."_

_"All ships stand-by… Arcadia to ISS Control… Executing space-fold in sixty seconds…"_

_"Understood Arcadia… Good luck and God's speed."_

_"Thanks… We'll see you on the flip-side."_

Watching the countdown, she found herself holding her breath as she didn't know what to expect. A part of her was hoping that they would have to abort and come back, so that she and Paul could have more time together. Before all this, she hadn't thought about her future, she didn't think she had a future. Now she wanted a future, she wanted more. She kept watching the seconds tick down before her future was about to disappear. She started to see a bright energy field forming, surrounding all the ships. Biting her lip, she kept watching as the energy field grew bigger and brighter. She didn't hear the announcers as her attention was focused on the ship that held some of the best memories and happiest times of her life…then it was gone.

It took a long moment for the realization that Paul was actually gone to sink in. She sat there staring at the TV screen as the bar started to return to normal. She ignored what was going on around her as her thoughts were replaying her last time with Paul. He'd promised that he would be back. Even knowing how much he cared for her, she'd told him not to make any promises he couldn't keep. She'd said it out of reflex as she'd been burned too many times before by other people. Now she regretted saying those words as her heart and soul yearned for him to return.

_He said it would only be six months…_

Finishing off her drink, she grabbed her helmet making her way out of the bar. Sitting on her Cyclone in the parking lot, she had no real idea of where she was going to go now. There was still her mission, but it didn't feel the same as it once did. Strangely, she now somehow felt incomplete and wouldn't feel whole until he returned.

_Buffy and Giles were talking about either going to San Francisco or Cleveland… Maybe I should go hang out with them for a while…_

Before she put on her helmet, her gaze went up to the sky. The sun was getting ready to set and she could see the moon starting to show more brightly in the sky. Again memories, thoughts and feelings played through her mind. Her hand went to the pendant under her shirt as she kept gazing upwards.

_Good fortune… Good fortune to us all…_

After a moment, she put her helmet on and started up her Cyclone. The roar of the engine seemed to drown out all the other sounds. She took some comfort from the power of her motorcycle as she felt it flow through her body. She quickly peeled out of the parking lot heading off down the road.

**oOoOo**

The Vice-President of the United States may have been the second most powerful man in the country and the world, but he was nothing but a quivering pile of human flesh to his master. The demon looked at the human with nothing but contempt and scorn, "You've done well… You've done as we've asked."

"Y-Yes m-master… I-I did everything you asked…"

The demon paused to think, he had his own master to report to and he had to make sure that he'd covered off everything. He dreaded having to report any bad news to his master. Everything seemed to be coming together as planned. His thoughts were interrupted as the Vice-President spoke.

"M-Master, when do we strike?"

"We wait…"

"Wait?"

"My master is patient…he has been waiting a long time for this opportunity. Right now everyone is focused on this mission, but that will fade as the days and weeks pass. The seeds we have been planting will soon bear fruit for us and when the time is right we will strike… Then you will be elevated to the position that we want you in. Then the real fun begins…" the demon said baring his teeth into something resembling a smile.

"T-Thank you master… I only live to serve…"

"Yes…yes you do," the demon said still smile.


	46. Another cross to bear…

**CHAPTER FORTY-SIX:**

**Another cross to bear…**

"_…Up until that point we still had no idea of what or who we would encounter. Every jump that we took closer to Tirol put us on edge. The Invid who accompanied us seemed resigned to their fate, but with my promise to jump to Optera after Tirol it seemed to give them hope and keep them in line. What was surprising was to see how the Invid were beginning to interact with us more, especially Tashe. As we reached the edges from what our records indicated was the furthest reach of the Robotech Masters' empire, we were both relieved and frustrated as we saw no evidence of Tirolian, Zentreadi or even Invid outposts or colonies. It was only when we entered areas that from our records indicated Tirolian expansion before the rise of the Masters that we finally found indications of civilization, but not in the way we had thought we would find... In the end, the decision to continue on was mine and I bear full responsibility for everything that was unleashed upon us all and the cost we had to pay …_"

— Excerpt from the collected journals of Fleet Admiral Paul Coleiro

**oOoOo**

The room was bathed in the glow of a small yellow sun. That sun provided light and energy to the small number of planets and planetoids that circled it. Paul basked in the glow that filled the observation room as he sat back in his chair with his feet propped up on the table listening to the music softly filling the room.

He took off his eye patch, blinking his left eye slowly as he held his hand over his right eye to test it. He was able to see the light, but nothing else. This was an actual improvement over what it used to be. Even the headaches he got on a regular basis were starting to be less intermittent. A smile came to his face, thinking of how all the doctors were scratching their heads over this as they'd been positive that he would never see out of that eye again. The doctors were at a loss to explain this improvement, but Paul wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

_Maybe I won't have to worry about looking like General Edwards's evil twin brother anymore! Though Faith did say I looked pretty sexy with it on…_

His thoughts drifted back to the music, a part of him wished he had something harder to drink than the coffee he currently had. A soft mellow piano along with a female singer's contralto voice played from the speakers drifting across and filling the room.

_God, I'm getting so retrospective in my old age! Who would have thought I liked jazz…_

That had been one of the things they had requested before leaving Earth. Everyone aboard was busy, when not on duty, exploring all the music, movies and books that the alternate Earth had provided. There was a literal treasure trove of new entertainment to explore and discover. Granted some of the new additions to the crew found it amusing how some of the REF people lapped up some of the cultural phrases that seemed ancient by their standards. Paul understood why, the Zentreadi "Rain of Death" on their Earth had almost erased their humanity's cultural history. They only retained what had been aboard the SDF-1 and those areas not completely obliterated by the orbital bombardment.

Closing his eyes, he listened to the words the female singer belted out. He could feel the pull on his heart and soul as his mind filled of the woman he promised he would return to. They had been only gone for almost two months, but it felt like a lifetime since he'd said good-bye to Faith. Paul felt his frustration growing with the deliberate slow pace and sneaking around they were doing, but he knew how important it was to maintain a low profile as they tried to determine what threats they faced. The side benefit, of this pace and path they were taking, was allowing them more time to train and integrate their new personnel into shipboard life and operations.

Further thoughts of Faith were interrupted as the door to the observation room opened. Paul slowly swung his feet back to the floor, turning down the volume of the music. He watched as his two recently promoted Lieutenant-Commanders came to attention.

"Sorry to disturb you, sir. We've finished our recon of the system," Lieutenant-Commander Hanson said still sounding a little nervous getting accustomed with his new rank.

"At ease, you two. Sit down," Paul said waving towards the empty chairs. He tried not to laugh as he saw the uncomfortable looks exchanged between the two officers as they were a little taken aback by their Captain's relaxed manner. A small smile crossed his face as they somewhat awkwardly took their seats at the conference table as it was obvious that Hanson and Evans were still trying to adjust to their recent promotions. With the additions to their crew, Paul had been forced to look at and reorganize his command structure. Some of the military volunteers from Earth had higher ranks than Hanson and Evans, but not the requisite experience and knowledge in space operations and use of Robotechnology. To fix the situation, he just promoted the two young officers. They had both more than earned their promotions. It would just take time for them to settle in and get comfortable with their new roles and added responsibilities.

_That they each have someone that can support them is an added bonus_, he thought as images of Faith came again. He pushed aside those thoughts for now.

Studying Evans for a moment, his instincts about her had been right. She'd excelled overseeing the pilot training program. Some of the older and higher-ranked volunteer military pilots had scoffed at taking orders and instructions from "a girl" at first. That had quickly changed when they found out that she was already an ace in space combat and especially after she took some of them to school in the simulators and training flights.

For now, Paul had retained his squadron command of the Grim Reapers, but he'd made Evans his squadron XO putting her pretty much in charge of handling the day-to-day operations of the squadron as he was busy with his responsibilities as overall expedition commander. He let out an internal sigh as Coulson had been pressuring him to handover his squadron, but he was hesitant. The major reason was that Cassie still needed more seasoning and experience and he was still the most experienced pilot that they had. The other — and more personal — reason was that he wasn't quite ready to step away from the cockpit. He knew that his time in the cockpit was coming to an end as the Arcadia's command chair was now becoming more where he was needed. Looking at the two young officers he found himself a little jealous at their youth as he recalled how he was at their age and not having to worry about the "big picture".

_Once things settle down more…maybe I can step away. We do need an Air Group Commander_, he thought considering again the implications of stepping away from the cockpit.

Even then he knew that would be just delaying the inevitable and final departure from the cockpit to the command chair. For now it wasn't that big an issue, but as more squadrons were becoming operational he knew that he would have to make a decision about his role in the expedition's flight operations. He'd already talked in generalities with Cassie to get her sense of who would be a good AGC and he was putting a list together in his mind to follow up with when that time arrived.

His mind brushed those thoughts away for now as he refocused on why Aaron and Cassie were here to see him. "I take it you've confirmed what our preliminary scans indicated," Paul asked, his thoughts switching over to what they had discovered on one of this system's planets and which was of far greater concern than his own needs.

Hanson nodded, "Yes, sir. We confirmed that there was a small colony on the fourth planet in this system. Upon closer look and comparing with what we have in our databases, the colony was definitely of Tirolian origin…and from the ruins of the buildings it was pre-Robotech."

"Any indications of life?"

"None, sir. We confirmed our earlier scans and assessment…this colony was bombed from space. Whatever hit here was methodical and ruthless. From the scans of the debris in orbit and on the surface, this colony had minimal defenses and yet they were attacked and everyone appears to have been exterminated."

"Do we know when this happened?"

"From the radioactive decay of isotopes we found in the soil, it looks like this colony has been dead for at least 200 years."

Leaning back in his chair, Paul considered what they had found, the implications and ramifications to them and the mission. This had been the first sign of any type of civilization in the Local Group area that they had found and it turned out to be a long dead colony world. He felt his inner voice trying to warn him of something, but it was just out of reach — as if trying to piece together fragments of a dream. He was trying to figure out what their next move would be when Hanson spoke again.

"Sir, there was one other thing that we found."

"Go ahead."

"We found traces of a faint energy signature embedded in some of the orbital debris and wreckage on the planet. That there was still an energy trace after this long indicates that the weapons used were very powerful…"

Paul could tell by both officers' faces that there was more. He nodded to continue.

"…when we ran this signature against our databases, we found only one instance of a similar signature."

"Get to the bad news, XO," Paul said getting impatient.

Aaron took a deep breath and then spit out the bad news, "The energy signature is identical to that used by the unidentified aliens that we encountered in the battle that sent us to this universe."

Paul took a moment to let this news sink in and how it would change his plans and decisions. A brief thought of turning around and jumping directly back to Earth crossed his mind. He shook off that thought as they still needed to determine what, if any threat existed out here. Then there was his promise to the Invid.

_That colony has been dead for over 200 years…There still can't be a threat…_

That thought bounced around inside his head and yet he still had this bad feeling pulling at him.

"Lieutenant-Commander Hanson, are we still running at EMCOM-1?"

"Yes, sir. We're keeping a low profile."

"Go to EMCOM-2 and notify Commander Wright to have the Dolphin and her group follow suit."

Both officers showed surprise with the order, "Are you sure, sir?" Hanson asked.

"Yes… I also want our AWACs deployed to extend our eyes in this system. I want them on rotating patrols on the edges of this system. I want them quiet and on passive, so if anything shows up unannounced we get fair warning. Have the Dolphin and her group set up shop in the asteroid field, they'll be our reserve. The Invid will go with her to hide as well."

"Sir?" Hanson asked understanding the orders, but looking a little confused.

"XO, we're going to stay here for a bit, while I consider our next move. I also want more battle and damage control drills for all ships, make sure that you contact Tashe and let her know what the situation is and what we're going to be doing."

"Sir?" Aaron asked a little puzzled.

"I think the Invid are in the same boat as we are. Having their forces on our side might give us an advantage if we run into any trouble."

"Yes, sir. Understood."

"Lieutenant-Commander Evans."

"Sir."

"How are our new squadrons looking?"

Cassie's other responsibilities had been overseeing the flight training program and help organizing the new squadrons to become operational. Even after all these months, she seemed to still be trying to catch her breath with all the changes and her increasing responsibilities. The good news was that as more pilots went through the training program, she was able to delegate more of that workload to focus on her new role as Squadron XO of the Grim Reapers. There had been times were she'd doubted herself and abilities, but the Captain and especially Xander had been both understanding and supportive and she hadn't disappointed either of them.

"The Reapers are fully operational. Skull, Vipers and Black Lancers squadrons are in final shakedowns and are good to go by the end of the week. The other squadrons are still in the training cycle, but we should be at our full air wing complement of pilots within three weeks. Our only problem is the availability of aircraft. Chief Larson says she'll have enough Veritechs repaired for another seven squadrons in about two weeks and then after that were tapped out of fighters with just a handful left for training and replacements."

A grim look passed across Paul's face as he was very aware of this situation and he still didn't know how he was going to obtain more aircraft, yet alone replacements and parts once they'd exhausted their supplies.

Overall, he was satisfied with the reports and status of his pilots and growing air wing as this gave him more options along with increasing his expedition's firepower. He had made it a point to recruit more than enough pilots to provide a full air wing and then some for his fleet. He wasn't going to let the number of Veritechs available prevent him from having a large pool of trained pilots to draw from.

Rubbing his chin in thought, Paul knew that he had to make some difficult choices and decisions. He wished that he had more resources, but he had to make a compromise to ensure that he had properly trained pilots, "Make sure that we hold back two squadrons of fighters. It's not what I want, but we'll use those fighters to rotate among some of the squadrons. I want to make sure that they are getting real flight time in space and not just simulator time," he said.

"Yes, sir."

"Also make sure that two of the new squadrons are assigned to the Dolphin's group. I think Commander Wright would appreciate having some fighters available to support him," Paul said with a small smile. He'd made it a point to ensure that the Commander's group was adequately supplied and provided for. Buffy had come to him before they had left, asking him to keep an eye on the Commander. Paul had given her his promise that he would do his best to take care of him.

"Yes, sir." Cassie answered mirroring the Captain's smile.

"How are the new pilots doing?" Paul asked. He had read all the evaluation and status reports along with observing some of the training, but he wanted Cassie's gut opinion on them.

"We still have a few rough edges and it might take longer to work out the kinks with the limited number of Veritechs at our disposal. Some of the military fighter pilots are finding it a little hard to make the transition, but I think we're going to be good. From what I've seen, I would put them up against any squadron in the REF. I've been really impressed with those Potentials that stayed with us, they show a lot of promise."

"I hear that from the reports," Paul said with a grin, "I was surprised that you kept them altogether."

"Yes, sir. They worked so well together in training that I thought it would be best to keep them altogether…they're assigned to Skull Squadron."

Paul's smile grew a little larger, knowing that his old squadron would live again in this universe. He wondered what Max Sterling would say about how things had worked out. He figured that his old squadron commander and mentor would be satisfied with how things had turned out considering the circumstances.

_He would probably laugh and ask me "What took you so long?" and throw in an "I told you so" if he knew that I was commanding this expedition…_

"Good to hear, Lieutenant-Commander," Paul paused for a second as a gleam appeared in his eye, "I've decided that while we're here, we're going to smooth away those rough edges. We will be flying and engaging in wargames to simulate real combat scenarios. I want to make sure everyone gets operational flight time while we're here and Cassie…"

"Yes, sir?" she said a little surprised that the Captain was using her first name.

Paul couldn't help himself as his smile got bigger, "Pass the word to all the pilots that I will be out there flying in the aggressor role, so they better watch themselves."

Cassie's eyes went big and it took a moment before a smile grew on her face, "Yes, sir! I will pass the word!"

Paul dismissed the two officers and they quickly exited the room. He was scheduled to meet with General Coulson in the War Room, but he had time before that meeting. He found himself with a slight dilemma as he didn't know what to do at the moment. He considered getting up to head back down to the bridge, but he finally decided to take a moment for himself.

Looking out the observation window, taking in the eternity of space, his thoughts drifted back to Faith and he found himself wondering when or if he would ever see her again. He replayed every moment they'd spent together, especially when they had said good-bye. He remembered the look in her eyes — a mix of sadness and love. He knew that she hadn't believed that he would be back. He'd promised that he would be back, but she'd told him not to make promises that he couldn't keep.

Staring out into the blackness, he let out a sigh as his mind raced with memories and thoughts of the past, present and future. After what felt like an eternity, he got up turning his back to the blackness, heading back down to the bridge and what awaited him there.


End file.
